Clueless
by Chozen Rogue
Summary: A person from Gil’s past comes back into his life. Can Gil deal with parenthood? And what the hell is with Catherine and Greg? ... Abandoned Fic - sorry!
1. Where's the love?

TITLE: Clueless

AUTHOR: Chozen Rogue

RATING: PG-13 (adult themes and swearing; though it might change)

DISTRIBUTION: You can have it, but just ask first, please!

SUMMARY: A person from Gil's past comes back into his life. Can Gil deal with parenthood? And what the hell is with Catherine?

PAIRINGS: G/C, N/S, W/OC, Greg/OC

SPOILERS: Let's just say the whole series.

DISCLAIMER: Nope, they don't belong to me… But I wish Gil, Greg, Warrick, and Nick did.

EMAIL: , please be nice but if ya flame me I won't mind, just tell me what I did wrong.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I ran into a roadblock with my other story, I Never Cried, so I felt compelled to write this idea I had. It takes place a year after the HUG.

------------------------

**Where's the Love**?

------------------------

"Kaylenn? Come on, wake up!" Yelled the driver.

A redheaded girl jerked awake and looked over at the driver of the car, "Dude! Do you have to yell?"

"You wouldn't wake up, Chica," he smiled her and nodded toward the building they had come to stop in the front of, Las Vegas Police Department.

Grabbing a bag from between her legs, she turned to him and asked, "Did you know I hate the police?"

Nodding, he smiled, "Si, you tell me all the time Kay." Reaching across her, he opened her door. "Don't kill anyone, ok? Give the guy a chance, he's your uncle after all."

She bent over and kissed his cheek. "Bye Diego! I'll call you if I have any trouble. Tell Landy that I love her and I wish I was still with y'all in Texas." And with that she got out and opened the back door to get her sleeping bag and the other travel bag.

They would send the rest of her stuff after she had gotten settled.

Diego didn't drive off until he saw her go inside the entrance. "She's gonna kill him… Poor Amigo…"

------

"GIL GRISSOM!!!"

All heads flew up at the sound of Catherine Willows voice. She was pissed and they knew it. They watched as she flew down the hall to their supervisor's office. Warrick Brown and Nick Stokes came out of the lab, followed closely by the crazy lab tech, Greg Sanders.

Greg smiled and said, "You think she's angry?"

Warrick snorted and Nicked answered, "I'd hate to be Grissom right 'bout now."

They focused their attention to the scene before them:

Catherine, in a blind rage, was now pounding on Gil Grissom office door, yelling a string of curses. "Gil! I swear to God, if you do not open this fucking door . . . I'll . . . I'll castrate-"

The door flew open and Gil walked out and right into Catherine's fist. The three who looked on gasped, "Whoo!"

"That's gotta hurt!" yelled Greg.

Nick and Warrick stood there and watched as Gil fell back into the room holding his face. Catherine walked calmly into the room and closed the door. Warrick smiled, "I swear if they don't do it soon, she'll destroy this place."

"Who'll destroy this place?" Sara Sidle walked into the room; obviously she had missed the fight… Or rather Gil getting his ass kicked by Catherine.

"You missed Catherine yell'n at Gris . . . again," Nick smirked as he walked down the hall towards Ballistics.

"Damnit!" Sara looked at Warrick and Greg, "Why do I always miss them fighting?"

They shrugged their shoulders in unison. "You also missed her punching him in the face!" Greg burst out laughing at the memory, but it didn't compare to when she turned around and headed towards Ballistics after Nick.

"Dammit to HELL!"

-------

Kaylenn was getting fed up with the woman that was at the front desk. She was currently on the phone with 'Honeybunches' and probably wouldn't have given a damn thought to Kaylenn if she had come in with her arm amputated and was spewing blood everywhere. She'd probably just say, "Hold on Honeybunches," and handing Kaylenn a number, "here's your number."

"I hate people…" Kaylenn mumbled under her breath. She turned back to the lady and tried again, "Excuse me, Miss? Do yah know where I could find a," she looked at the slip of paper she held, "Mister Gil Grissom or a Jim Brass?"

The lady looked at her and said, "Do you mind? I'm talking to a very important person." She swiveled her chair around and started to do her nails.

"Ok, that's it, you Barbie Bitch!"

The lady turned around in her chair and glared at her, "Why you little piece of white-trash-"

Kaylenn lunched herself across the desk at the woman, "Why you God-damn, mother- Hey! What the hell?" Two security guards grabbed her and pulled her off the screaming woman. "Hey! Let me go!"

They let her go and stepped between her and desk clerk, who was rearranging her clothes and trying to look respectful. She turned her head and mouthed, 'Whore' at Kaylenn.

"Bitch!" Kaylenn went for her again, but ran into a plump and stout man.

"Whoa! Hey, let's just calm down and take a walk to my office? Uh?" The man held out a hand pointing down a hall. Kaylenn looked at him and nodded, she began to walk towards his office. As Kaylenn passed by the front desk, she flicked off the lady causing the man to grab her arm and all but drag her to his office.

-------

Gil looked up at Catherine as she closed the door. She turned to him and looked him in the eyes . . . Or rather eye, his hand was covering the one she had hit. "Oh, don't look at me like you don't know why I'm mad!"

Repositioning himself on the couch he had fallen onto, he said, "Actually, I have no clue on why you're angry at me or why you would hit me." He was touching his eye gingerly, wincing every time. 'Great, she bruised me!'

"Oh, fuck you Gil!" She looked at him again and felt her heart melt at the sight of him wincing, but also almost smiled when she saw his eye start to turn purple. He deserved it.

He started to get up but was pushed back down on the couch, "No, you sit!" It took every bit of Catherine's control not to straddle his lap and have her way with him. 'Oh, great! I'm thinking about practically raping him and I'm getting turned on!' She looked at the man sprawled on the couch, 'Would he mind if I did?'

-------

Brass looked at the girl in front of him. She had strawberry-blond hair that was more on the red side. Blues eyes, God, where had he seen those blue eyes… They were just so familiar to him. Then there was her face: soft features settled in a heart-shaped face, light freckles danced across her nose and cheeks. She was pretty, but what a pain in the ass.

"Do you just want to stare at me or do you want to tell what I did wrong?"

Brass' jaw dropped, "What did you do? You just attacked-"

Kaylenn jumped up and yelled, "Hey, she was rude to me first!"

Brass slowly got out of his chair and leant forward, "But you attacked her physically…"

Kaylenn leant over his desk and got very close to his face, "Why don't you lick me?"

Brass couldn't believe it. This girl really meant it, she didn't care if he threw her in jail, just as long as she didn't lose this game they seem to be playing all of a sudden. He smiled; he liked her. Brass motioned to the chair behind her, "Please sit, and we'll see what I can do for you."

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders; sitting down she said, "You know, you're not that bad."

"Thanks! And you're a pain in the ass."

She laughed, "Thanks for noticing," her eyes scanned his desk for his nameplate, she saw it and continued, "Brass." He nodded his head in return and she cocked hers. "You wouldn't happen to be Jim Brass would you?"

Brass leant back in his chair and looked at the girl cautiously, "Yes…" She locked eyes with him. "Why? You got someth'n for me kid?"

She shook her head, "No, I was wondering if you could show me to where Gil Grissom is."

Brass's eyes widened, what could this kid want with Grissom? "Uh, I could… But I'm not."

"Why?" Okay, he was starting to piss her off.

"I need a name."

Kaylenn's jaw dropped, why did he need her name to see Gil? "Forget you! I'll find him on my own!" She jumped out her chair and grabbed her stuff.

Brass started to go after her and asked, "Wait a minute!"

Kaylenn turned around and hissed, "No, and it's Kaylenn Grissom."

Brass stood there shocked. She couldn't have said what he just thought she said. Gil had a daughter?

-------

"Again I ask, how long have we known each other?"

"And again I ask, in days, weeks, or years?"

"Either!"

He looked into her light blue eyes and did some multiplying. "6556 days, 936 weeks, or 18 years." He cocked his head, "Give or take. Take your pick."

Her hand flew out and slapped him across the jaw, hard. She winced, that had hurt her a lot and if it had hurt her a lot… "SHIT!" He jumped up and she saw a clear impression of her hand starting to appear on his face. "What the hell is the matter with you?!"

His eyes bored into hers as she said, "You lied to me again!"

He took a step toward her, she knew he would never hurt her but still he was scaring her. "What?" His voice was low and hard as steel.

She got right up in his face and was about to retort when his office door flew open. They noticed it but neither moved nor broke eye contact.

Kaylenn looked up as she entered the room, which had been labeled Grissom, the secretary had told her directions. She stopped in mid-stride at the sight before her. Kaylenn backed up and check the sign on the door: Supervisor, Gil Grissom. She looked back in and then checked the door again. After she was sure she was in the right room she looked back at the couple.

Kaylenn smiled. It was a man and woman, the man she recognized from memory, it was Gil. But the woman, who the hell was she? They were staring daggers at each other and they were both tense. Speaking of tension, Kaylenn could hardly breathe with all the sexual tension in the air; it was practically crackling.

"Yo? You guys wanna tune it down? This place is gonna go up in flames if it gets any hotter in here!"

Gil and Catherine turned their heads at the same time and yelled, "Who the hell (Catherine yelled 'fuck') are you?!"

The teen burst out laughing and pointed at them, "You bitch slapped him!"

Catherine turned to Gil and winced, she could now clearly see hand print in red on his lower cheek and jaw. It contrasted nicely with the purple and black of his eye. She was in so much trouble for this. "Did you also give him that beautiful shiner of his?" Catherine looked back at the teen before her and was about to fire back but was startled by the teen's eyes.

Catherine's eyes slowly ran back to Gil, "Gil, look at me."

Gil looked at Catherine, she gasped. "Catherine? What's wrong?"

The anger returned to her eyes and she pointed to Kaylenn, "She is!" And with that she ran out of the room, hitting Kaylenn's shoulder and causing her to drop her bags.

"Bitch…" Kaylenn mumbled as she gathered her stuff off the floor.

Gil looked at the teen that was now on the floor picking up her belongings. Who was she? And why did Catherine hate him for her? The red-head looked up and asked, "Well, aren't you gonna go after her?"

"No," he let out a sigh, "she needs to be alone." He watched as Kaylenn straightened up and walked over to the couch, sitting down and let out a small sigh. "Who are you? And why does Catherine hate you?"

"Catherine? I like her, she's tough and feisty." She saw him smile and then looked up at him, cocking her head in the process, "You really don't remember me do you?"

He shook his head, "Should I?"

She nodded and locked identical sets of eyes with him. "Considering we have Grandma's eyes, I think you should," his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "Uncle Gil."

She smirked and looked in her bag that was cradled next to her, pulling out a manila-folder she stood up. Handing it over she said, "You have three days to show that you can be my guardian or I go to a foster home or more likely, an orphanage."

The whole lab looked toward their Supervisor's office as his voice bellowed, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

-----------------------------

_"Only if I could give you  
Would I want to let off  
From this soap opera, baby_

_We both know  
We won't let  
But we both know  
You left me - no choice  
You just bring me down"_

'Till I Get Over You' by Michelle Branch

------------------------------

A/N: Ok, tell me what you think. I'll try to update 'I Never Cried' soon.


	2. Gil's Delimma

TITLE: Clueless  
  
AUTHOR: Chozen Rogue  
  
RATING: PG-13 (adult themes and swearing; though it might change)  
  
DISTRIBUTION: You can have it, but just ask first, please!  
SUMMARY: A person from Gil's past comes back into his life. Can Gil deal with parenthood? And what the hell is with Catherine?  
PAIRINGS: G/C, N/S, W/OC, Greg/OC  
  
SPOILERS: Let's just say the whole series.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Nope, they don't belong to me. But I wish Gil, Greg, Warrick, and Nick did.  
  
EMAIL: wesleyz_gurl@yahoo.com, please be nice but if ya flame me I won't mind, just tell me what I did wrong.  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I ran into a roadblock with my other story, I Never Cried, so I felt compelled to write this idea I had. It takes place about 3 months after the HUG.  
  
*****  
  
Gil's Dilemma  
  
*****  
  
"Here take this, it'll calm your stomach down."  
  
Brass handed Gil a cup of something, Gil raised his head and took it. "I hate Pepto!"  
  
Brass sat down on the couch beside Gil and said, "Yeah well, it's a lot better than you throwing-up."  
  
Gil nodded and drank the rest of the pink medicine. "I wanna kill myself right now."  
  
"I bet you do!" Brass snorted into his hand. Gil gave him a look. "Besides, it's not just the pain in the ass out there in the lab," he pointed to Kaylenn, who was now flirting with Greg, "you also have a very pissed off ex-stripper to deal with."  
  
Gil nodded and looked at Kaylenn, "Look at her, why would Catherine be that way to Kaylenn?"  
  
"Maybe it's her winning personality?"  
  
"Maybe, but I mean. Catherine blew up at the sight of her. And the only pictures I have of Kay are her baby pictures, there's no way Catherine could have recognized her."  
  
"I think you should go talk to her, Gil." His face broke out in a 1000- watt smile, "You've pissed her off and your face shows it. And trust me, I remember what her hands can feel like when they connect with your face."  
  
Gil smiled at the memory of Catherine slapping Brass multiple times while she was still stripping. Brass had gotten kicked out several times for touching her.  
  
"Hey Gil? Where am I staying tonight while you make a decision?" Kaylenn bounced into Gil's office, that lab tech had been off-the-wall gorgeous.  
  
Gil stood up and walked over to his desk. He grabbed his jacket and keys, and walked over to Kaylenn and Brass, who was now standing. "My place," stooping down to get his briefcase and one of the heavier bags that Kaylenn had brought in, "get your stuff, we're going now."  
  
Kaylenn nodded and grabbed the rest of her bags, "You got an apartment or somth'n?"  
  
"Townhouse."  
  
"Cool."  
  
Gil turned to Brass and said, "Hopefully, I'll be back in a little while. Make sure nobody slacks off."  
  
Brass nodded and walked away back to his office. Gil turned back to Kaylenn and pointed down a different hallway and said, "Come on, my car is out this way."  
  
As they exited the lab, Nick came up to Greg and asked, "So, who was the red-head you were talking to Greggo?"  
  
"Was she hot or not?!"  
  
"She was." Nick laughed as Greg started dancing, disco-style.  
  
Greg punched the air and said, "Who's the man!"  
  
Nick shook his head, "Man, who was she?"  
  
"Kaylenn. I think."  
  
"Oh yeah, you the man, you can't even remember her name," Nick said over his shoulder as headed into the break-room.  
  
*****  
  
Kaylenn walked into a spacious living room, adorned with framed butterflies, a coffee table, and a very nick leather couch. A bar separated the living room from a kitchen, and a hallway lead toward what she suspected was the bedrooms.  
  
She dropped her stuff and ran over to the bar and sat down on one of the bar stools. "This is some nice digs, you got here."  
  
Gil's brow furrowed as he came into the kitchen and stood facing Kaylenn, "Digs?"  
  
"Yeah, you know: crib?" She sighed, "Place, you got a nice place." He nodded slowly, as she slid off and gestured around her, "Can I look around?"  
  
He started to fidget a little bit; she supposed he wasn't very comfortable with the idea. "Yeah, you can look around."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
He nodded and relaxed a bit. She giggled and disappeared down the hallway. Gil shook his head, and grabbed the phone off its charger on the wall. He dialed a number and waited for the phone to be picked up.  
  
'This is Catherine Willows, I can't come to phone right now, so leave your number and a short message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.' The voice changed to her daughter, Lindsey's, 'Thank you.' BEEP!  
  
"Cat? I know your there, pick up. Please pick up? I want to talk to you. please?" He sighed, "Fine, I'm coming over, one way or another I going to talk to you. See ya in a bit."  
  
He hung up and looked at a group of framed pictures of Catherine, him and Lindsey. Him and his girls. He picked it up and looked and the frame that held the four pictures, though his attention was trained on her picture.  
  
He had taken the picture, about six years ago. It had been fall, and they had gone down to Nick's family's ranch for a week. Catherine had woken him up at five in the morning and they had gone out walking. They had been walking for a while and had found a clearing in the woods and had decided to rest there for a while before they head back. She had brought a camera with her and had asked him to take a picture of her. He had agreed and she had posed for him.  
  
She was wear a green, form-fitting turtleneck and dark blue jeans ending the outfit with dark-brown hiking boots. She had very little make-up on, almost none. She had put on lip-gloss and her lips were shimmering; she said she only wore it for him. Not for her husband, Eddie, or for anyone else, just him and him only. She had put it on right before she got into position.  
  
She was sitting on the ground, with her knees pulled up and she had one arm hugging them; the other cradled her head. She was facing the camera, though her body was sideways and she was smiling. It wasn't a big smile, but it wasn't little either. Her eyes were shining. Why couldn't she smile like that anymore?  
  
He missed her.  
  
*****  
  
Kaylenn turned on the hall light and opened the first door, basement, "Ok, I gotta check it out later."  
  
She shut the door and moved on to the second door, guest bathroom. It had two more doors inside of the room. She opened the one that was between the toilet and the shower, it was a closet. She smiled as she saw stairs leading up to an attic or roof, she had to check it out, but damnit, she had a lot of things to check out first. She turned around and opened the door across from the closet, "And behind door number three?"  
  
"Bugs." She entered the room and went around the room, looking into every jar and cage. "Cool! An iguana. Oh my God!" She held up a jar and peered into it, "A two-headed scorpion, that would make a great tattoo." She set it down and started out the door, which she guessed led out into the hallway, "Awesome room, but," she closed the door and shuddered, "kinda creepy."  
  
She straightened up and walked to the last door, she reached out to open it but the sound of Gil's voice stopped her, "Not that room, it's mine." She looked up at him and nodded, then walked past him and back into the living room.  
  
"So, where am I sleep'n to night?" Kaylenn plopped down into leather couch and made herself quite comfortable.  
  
He sat down on his coffee table and sighed, "My bed," her head flew up and he added, "don't worry, I'll sleep on the couch."  
  
"Kaylenn?" All of sudden she burst out laughing, "Kay? What I'd do?"  
  
She got some control over herself and said, "I got the picture of you on your side all scrunched up, in a nighty, hold'n a bear and you were drooling." She started laughing again, and Gil couldn't help but smile, she did have an imagination.  
  
"Look Gil," she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I'll sleep on the couch. it's comfy and I don't mind at all."  
  
He cocked his head, as if she was a suspect and he was interrogating her; he wanted to know if she was telling the truth. And all his senses were saying yes. "Fine, but if you want to use the bed, use it. I work nights anyways."  
  
She nodded slowly and then met his eyes, "And me?"  
  
"I don't know, I'm still deciding." He got up and walked over to the bar to grab his coat.  
  
"You lea-" Her voice cracked, she tried again, "You leaving?"  
  
"Yeah," he shrugged on his coat and grabbed his keys, "I'm going to a friend's, I'll be back soon, ok." She nodded and he walked to the door and opened it, "There should be some stuff in the fridge, if you get hungry make yourself a sandwich or something." He looked at her and said, "Or you can call for pizza, there should be some extra money in one of the cupboards."  
  
And with that, Kaylenn heard the door shut.  
  
*****  
  
" We do it. Oh we do it.  
  
Is love really the tragedy, The way you might describe?  
  
Or would a thousand lovers,  
  
still leave you cold inside?  
  
Make you cry...  
  
These tears of pearls."  
  
'Tears of Pearls' by Savage Garden  
  
*****  
  
A/N: Ok, I messed up. This story takes place about 3 months after the season 3 finale, not a year. I hoped you liked it! 


	3. Past and Present

A/N: Everything is in the 1st and 2nd parts.  
  
Past and Present  
  
**********  
  
Catherine turned off the water and stepped out of the bathtub. Grabbing a towel on her way into her bedroom, she wrapped it around herself and sat on the bed. She slowly leaned until she was lying on her back and looked over at her nightstand. Four pictures of Gil stared back at her. She got up and put on a sports bra and a pair of sweats. She walked into her kitchen, with the intent on getting a screwdriver.  
  
A few minutes later Catherine curled up on her couch with her drink and a picture frame that held four pictures. She sat there, nursing her drink and letting the pictures bring back memories long forgotten.  
  
The first picture was the one that had been taken the earliest. It was of Gil during their second year of knowing each other. It had been his birthday; she and Jim had shown up at his place at midnight and had drunk the night away. She remembered Jim falling off his chair while they had been playing strip poker, and he never got up again. He had been so drunk that he had fallen asleep when he hit the floor, leaving Gil and Catherine to finish the game by themselves. She laughed at the memory, God that had been a fun night.  
  
DING-DONG!  
  
Catherine almost dropped her drink as the doorbell startled her. She sat down her drink and the pictures as she went to answer the door. It was almost midnight as she was going to kill who ever it was. She opened the door, "What hell do you- "  
  
She broke off soon as she saw who was there. It was Gil, looking as though he had gone a round or two with Mike Tyson. She winced as she realized those bruises were her doing. Then she became very aware of how little she was wearing. 'Damn me for always being so comfortable in my own skin . . . But it isn't like he's never seen you nak- don't think about that!' She scolded herself as she motioned for him to come in.  
  
When she had opened the door Gil had been taken aback. He took her in. She was beautiful; her strawberry-blond was still wet from the shower she had obviously taken, and droplets were sliding down on her- He gulped. Those droplets were making her white, spaghetti-top more see-through by the second. He shifted his pants a little and walked into her house.  
  
She smiled as she saw him shift his pants, good to know she could still do that to a man. "Uh, sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone."  
  
"I called."  
  
"You did?"  
  
He nodded and pointed to the couch that she had sitting on earlier, when she nodded he continued, "Yeah, but I guess you were taking a shower." He sat down on the couch, and smiled when she joined him.  
  
"Yeah, I just got out," she pointed to the kitchen, "you want anything?" He shook his head and she stared at him.  
  
He looked up at her and saw that she was holding onto her legs, "Are you cold?"  
  
She shook he head and smiled sheepishly, "No, more like exposed."  
  
"That's a very odd thing for an ex-stripper to say," he said as he laughed, earning him a pillow thrown at him. He batted it away as it hit him, "Hey! You could hurt somebody with that!"  
  
She launched herself at him, knocking him and her off the couch and on to the floor. He landed on top of her and she rolled them, so she ended up on top. She pinned one of his legs beneath her and held both wrists on either side of his head in firm grasps. "Pin ya," she said through the giggles.  
  
"Now that probably hurt you more than it did me," he smiled up at her, and she could have sworn her heart melted.  
  
"Well, what'd ya expect when your fat ass fell on me!"  
  
Mocked hurt filled his voice, "You think I'm fat?"  
  
"No." She smiled down at him. Actually he had lost a lot of weight after his operation, she always thought that most of some of the weight he had put on in the last two to three years had had something to do with the depression he had gone through with his hearing, and just with age. "But you did lose some."  
  
"I know. You like?"  
  
She raised herself off of him a bit more, "Yeah, but I never said I didn't think you were hot stuff with a few extra either." She mentally slapped herself; did she really just say that?  
  
His brow furrowed, "You think I'm hot stuff?"  
  
'Oops, you're on your own Willows.' "Hey just because we're best friends doesn't mean I can't think you're cute sometimes, does it?"  
  
Gil could have sworn he had stop breathing, Catherine, the love of his life, thought he was cute? "No."  
  
"Good."  
  
She looked into his eyes and said, "I'm sorry about earlier . . ." She traced a finger over the side of his face that was bruised. "I'm sorry, I was just extremely pissed off. And I didn't know how to control it."  
  
"Do you know how lame that sounds?"  
  
She laughed and then met his gaze, "Why didn't you tell me you had a daughter?"  
  
His eyes got wide as what she said sunk in, "You think Kaylenn is mine?"  
  
"Kaylenn, she's the red-head right?" He nodded and she said, "Well, she is isn't she?" If he said no, she was going to commit suicide on the spot.  
  
"No, she's my niece."  
  
Her jaw dropped, he had a niece? She hadn't even known he had any siblings. "Y-y-your niece?"  
  
He nodded, "Yes, she's my brother's daughter."  
  
She quickly got up off him, both of them mentally groaning at the lost of contact. "You have a brother?"  
  
"Had," he sighed.  
  
"What?"  
  
He met her gaze, and she saw a little bit of moisture was in his eyes, "Let me start from the beginning, ok?"  
  
She nodded and he propped himself against the couch. "He was my older half- brother,"  
  
She interrupted him, "But I thought your mom and your dad divorced when you were five."  
  
"They did." He took a deep breath and continued, "My mom had an affair, and she got pregnant with me. My brother was eight when I was born."  
  
"Your mom had an affair with who, and this was on your dad, right?"  
  
"Yes, my mom was married to my father when she had the affair. And I don't know who my real father is, she never told me."  
  
She was confused, "She told you she had an affair with a guy who happens to be your real father, but she didn't tell you who he is?"  
  
He nodded, "That's the thing, whenever I ask her, I get the feeling I know him."  
  
"Like he's in your life?"  
  
"Yeah, I feel like I've met him and he kept in touch with me when I was younger."  
  
"You got any guesses?" She was curious to know.  
  
"A few, but I'm afraid to follow through with it." She saw that he was looking at something only he could see, he shook his head, "Anyways, my dad never found out that I wasn't his until their divorce, my mother had complete custody over me since I wasn't his; while my bother got shared custody. I mean my father had visitation privileges but that was about it."  
  
"Was it hard on you?"  
  
"Yep." He looked down at his hands, "He really didn't want to see me after that and I've had little contact with him since then."  
  
"Harsh," she reached for one of his hands and held it as he continued.  
  
"Anyway, Michael, my brother, he mostly lived with my dad, so we were never what you would call close." He sighed, "To make a long story short, he went on to be a very successful doctor and married an equally successful surgeon."  
  
"Wow, they must have been rich."  
  
"They were. Since she was born in Texas, they moved down there and brought a ranch, where they had Kaylenn."  
  
"So, Kaylenn is a Texan, I knew I had heard that accent before," she saw him smile. "Though, she has nothing on Nick."  
  
"No she doesn't." He shook his head; "I didn't know it was Kaylenn until she told me who she was. I haven't seen her since she was three. And I had no idea she was coming."  
  
"I did."  
  
His head shot up and he met her eyes sharply, "You what? How?"  
  
Catherine smiled guiltily, "Your office phone rang and I picked it up, it was social services and they want me to tell you that Kaylenn Grissom would be arriving soon with papers. It had been an emergency and they hadn't been able to reach you for weeks."  
  
"And you went looking for me? That's why you punched me?"  
  
"Yeah, I went looking for you and then came back to your office when Sara told me where you were." She shook her head, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit the roof like that."  
  
He smiled and shrugged, "I would've done the same; though I don't think I would have hit you."  
  
Catherine smiled and then asked, "You said that he had died . . . How?"  
  
Gil cocked his head, "From what Kaylenn told me, it was a car accident that killed them both," his voice had started to crack. "Kaylenn had been trying to get in touch with me, but it just didn't work. And that's why she's here."  
  
"You're her only relative besides your mother and I'm sure they wouldn't put Kaylenn with her, I mean her being taken care of."  
  
"Uh-huh, so I have to decide whether or not she stays with me."  
  
"Say yes and give it a try."  
  
Gil raised his eyes and blue met blue, "It's not th-"  
  
"I personally think you've already made a choice Gil."  
  
"I think so too, I just don't know if it's the right one."  
  
They sat there for a few moments before she pulled him into a hug, and the random thought of her being the almost naked one this time around popped into her mind. They held each other till she felt him grab something off of the coffee table, "What are these?"  
  
'Oh shit, the pictures!' "Just pictures I have of you."  
  
He looked at her, she still had her arms around his neck and he had one arm around her waist, "I know that but I've never seen them before."  
  
"They're part of my private collection."  
  
He pointed to the she had been looking at earlier, "When was this one taken?"  
  
"Don't you remember?" He shook his head, "Gil, it was your 32nd birthday, the night we, meaning you, me and Jim, all got incredibly drunk."  
  
"And I beat you at strip-poker?" She lightly swatted his shoulder, "Well, I did. But still when did you take this?"  
  
"You were the last one to pass out and the last one to wake up, Jim had left but I wasn't going to leave you until you woke up." She smiled, "I grabbed my camera, I have some interesting pictures of that night," he arched an eyebrow. "You were sleeping on your couch and I couldn't resist it."  
  
He looked down at the picture, "Why am I half dressed?"  
  
"You may have won the game but I did make you lose some of you clothing: your watch, your shoes, your socks, your shirt, and then your under-shirt . . . I'm guessing you never put them back on."  
  
"Oh, I was starting to think you did something to me."  
  
"Gil!"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"You're so horrible to me sometimes."  
  
"I know," he looked back at the pictures, "They're a nice collection."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
He looked at his watch and said, ":I gotta get back to work, and I gotta call Kaylenn, she's probably burning down my house."  
  
Catherine cocked her head, "She can't be that bad."  
  
Gil looked up at her and said, "She has a minor record," Catherine's eyes grew big, "nothing big, just minor offenses, nothing that that will be put on her permanent record."  
  
She nodded. "Though she did get in a fight with the desk clerk at in the police department, and then told Jim to lick her."  
  
Catherine groaned and put her head in the crook of his shoulder, "I can't believe she told him that. What does he think?"  
  
Gil was getting kind of nervous about how much contact was going on between them right now, and it didn't help that she still wasn't wearing very much clothing, "He thinks she's a pain in the ass."  
  
"Meaning he likes her."  
  
He nodded, "Look, I really have to be going."  
  
She slowly got up and pulled him up too, "Yeah, it's getting late, can I have the rest of the night off, boss?"  
  
"Your lucky I don't fire your ass for hitting me . . . And slapping me." He smiled down at her.  
  
"I know you liked it."  
  
He laughed and started walking to her door, "I'll see-ya tomorrow Cat."  
  
She opened the door for him and he walked out of her house down to his Tahoe. Before he got in, she called out, "Bye Gil! And thanks! I call you later."  
  
"Ok." He got in the car and started it up. She waited for him to disappear down the street before closing the door.  
  
**********  
  
"Now look at me, still in your mind,  
  
Our memories so intertwined,  
  
Well you broke through and found your way,  
  
And so did I, no need to stay,  
  
The same old pictures, tried and true,  
  
Been through there, looking for something new."  
  
'Stories' by Trapt  
  
**********  
  
A/N: Ok, I'm gonna start working on the next parts of this story and 'I Never Cried'. Be patient. Now hit the little review button and tell me what you think so far. 


	4. Memories

A/N: Thanks to everybody who's reviewed! Everything is in the 1st and 2nd parts.  
  
***************  
  
Catherine laid on her bed as she looked at the picture frame she had been looking at with Gil earlier in the evening. She ran her fingers over the four pictures that it held.  
  
She laughed as she studied one, which was the one that he had wondered about. He was lying on his couch; he had passed out on it shortly after she had passed out. He was shirtless and had a hand behind his head; he was holding a beer bottle in the other. It was a cute picture, showing how much he had changed over the years. He had been a boy back then, even at 32 he could still drink you under the table and go on all night. Sure he had been shy and private even then, but he had been wilder. He had been living his teens over again.  
  
She moved her fingers over to the next picture, a picture of just Gil and Lindsey. She had asked him for a piggyback ride and he'd obliged, he knew if he didn't, Catherine would kick his ass later. So he had gone parading through the house, with Lindsey acting as if she was a cowgirl; digging her heels in his sides and slapping the back of his head if he stopped. Though, right before she had taken the picture Lindsey had put her little, pink, cowboy hat, the one with the string, right on top of his head. She had burst out laughing when she saw him.  
  
"Oh my God! Let me go get the camera!" She had run down the hallway as he followed her. She grabbed her camera off the dresser in her room and had turned back around to get him, when he tackled her. They all went flying on Catherine's bed, Lindsey still attached on Gil's back. When they landed Catherine finger hit the button and flashed Gil in the eyes. He got up on all fours and started laughing, his head down. Lindsey let go of his neck and sat astride his back, then threw her head back and laughed herself to tears.  
  
And that had been when she took another picture. Gil's curls had fallen over his forehead, eyes closed, face bright with laughter and embarrassment. She couldn't lie to herself; he looked absolutely beautiful, though with the pink, cowboy hat, he looked comical. Guys who could make kids laugh and genuinely have fun always had turned something inside her on. Her momma had always told her to find a guy who loved animals, kids, and cooking. Gil could do it all.  
  
She let her fingers guide her eyes down, a picture of just Gil. It was the one from that trip that they had all made to Nick's ranch six years ago. She knew Gil had a similar one of her in his kitchen; they had modeled one picture of each other for another. His picture though had been very well planned on her part.  
  
She had him stand between to trees and had him lean in to the camera, while holding on to both trees at the same time. She stood on a rock that had positioned her to be able to look down at him, causing him to have to look up at her slightly. He was smiling and was looking up at her those gorgeous blue eyes of his, his head cocked slightly to the side. The clothes didn't help in the matter that it was already a sexy picture of him. He had been wearing a semi-tight black sweater over a white t-shirt, and they had been tucked in a very tight pair of blue jeans. It was her favorite picture of him.  
  
The rest of the day they had gone fishing, swimming, and walking with Nick, Warrick and of course Lindsey. It had been one of the greatest days of her life.  
  
Thinking of a picnic made her eyes travel to the last picture, of her, Lindsey, and Gil. It had been Lindsey's birthday and for the fourth year in a row she hadn't wanted a party. Catherine had always worried that she was turning her daughter weird but Lindsey always assured her that she just wanted to have her birthdays with her mother. But this last birthday she had begged Gil to come with them to the zoo, he had accepted.  
  
So, both she and Gil had taken Lindsey's birthday off and headed down to the zoo. At lunch they settled down on some benches and sat and talked, laughed and just truly relaxed for the first time in months.  
  
Right after they finished their lunch Lindsey begged Catherine to get someone to take a picture of all of them. So Gil stopped the next person he saw, which happened to be a young man in his early twenties. They posed but the man had asked, "Hey buddy! Why don't you get closer to your wife?"  
  
Catherine was about to tell him Gil was not her husband, but all thoughts melted away when Gil grabbed her from behind and pulled her to him. "Sorry, but I really don't want to argue today." She just nodded as he breathed the words in her ear. She'd shuddered and felt him smile, causing her to smile in return.  
  
Gil had sat on the back of the bench and had his right arm around her waist, holding her hand, while the other was slung around Lindsey's frame. He was resting his chin on her shoulder that was closest to Lindsey, who was holding onto her mother's waist, while Catherine just leaned back into Gil's embrace and held Lindsey. They were all smiling and they looked like a family. Which was not all that far from the truth.  
  
She shook her head, "Let's not think about that, shall we Catherine?"  
  
She took the frame and set it back on her beside table, and then turned off the lights. She turned over and fell quickly into a deep sleep.  
  
And Catherine Willows dreamed about the life she could have had.  
  
*****  
  
"I've always believed  
  
That my dreams would come true  
  
That one of these nights  
  
He would appear  
  
He'd be here in my arms  
  
I see it all, so clearly  
  
How it could be  
  
I wish he was kissing me now...  
  
Tell me how long (how long)  
  
'Till I'm not just dreaming"  
  
'How Long' by Dream  
  
***************  
  
A/N: I'm sorry it took so long, though I've had this chapter and the next one written for most of the summer . . . I'm waiting for CSI to start again and get the second on DVD, so I can have motivation for 'I Never Cried'. I'm sorry to all who have been waiting for both this story and 'I Never Cried'. 


	5. Breakfast, Pillows, and Some Rules

A/N: When you learn something about Kaylenn's personality, likes and dislikes, you learn something about me. Kaylenn is based on me.  
  
*****************  
  
Gil walked into his townhouse the next morning smelling omelets and hearing the sound of punk rock filling up the house. He grimaced; Kaylenn must be up. He walked towards his C.D. player and turned it down. He smiled; he could live with it at this level. "Oh, hey Gil? I hope you're hungry, I'm making two!"  
  
"Yeah, I am," he said as he was walking to the bar, he took a seat on one of the bar stools.  
  
"I took the bed last night."  
  
He watched her add some vegetables to one, and then close it, "Good, I was hoping you would."  
  
"Ah, I knew you would be . . ." She picked up the omelet and slid it onto a blue plate, "My dad said that you liked your omelets the same way he did, is that right?"  
  
At his nod she handed the plate to him and handed him a fork. "Good, cause if you had said no, I would have still made you eat it. I hate it that way."  
  
He shook his head as he saw her throw in some bacon and cheese into hers and close it, "I could never eat a plain omelet."  
  
"It's not plain, it has bacon and cheese."  
  
He smiled and took a bite, "Like I said, plain."  
  
She flicked a piece of cheese at him; it landed in his salt and pepper curls. He laughed and picked the piece cheese out of his hair. Kaylenn saw that it he didn't get all of it out, causing her to laugh. "What? I did get it all out, didn't I?"  
  
She stopped laughing and nodded her head, he went back to eating, and she continued to smile. She got her omelet and turned off the stove. Setting the plate on the bar, she went over to the fridge and asked, "You got any Tabasco?"  
  
He nodded, "Mm-hmm it should be behind the crickets."  
  
She looked over the door at him, one eyebrow raised, "Excuse me?"  
  
"The brown things that look like they're chocolate."  
  
"I thought it was chocolate," her eyes grew, "it tasted like chocolate."  
  
He smiled and said, "They're chocolate covered crickets."  
  
"Oh, ok," she stuck her head back in and pulled out the crickets and then shuffled around. "Ah, gotcha!" She pulled out a huge economy size bottle of Tabasco sauce, "Damn, you think you got enough Tabasco?"  
  
She closed the door and walked back over to the bar, carrying the Tabasco and crickets. "It's for when Catherine eats here, she drenches her food in the stuff." Pointing to the crickets, Gil asked, "Are you gonna eat those?"  
  
She shrugged as she took a bite at the now Tabasco covered omelet, "Yeah, why not? I thought they tasted pretty good, plus I need a little bit of extra iron in the morning."  
  
"Do you want to live with me?"  
  
Her eyes slowly met his, "If I say yes, do I get to?"  
  
He nodded; a smile slowly spread over Kaylenn's face, "Then, yes."  
  
He grinned, "I was hoping for yes, but you gotta follow my rules and if you break them you will be grounded."  
  
She nodded, "That sounds fair, but you gotta promise me some'n in return."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You can't treat me like a child or like I'm your daughter, cause I'm not. I am your niece."  
  
"Don't worry I won't, if I was I wouldn't have let you get away with cussing."  
  
She pointed the fork at her self, "I can cuss?"  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"Sixteen."  
  
"You're old enough."  
  
"Yes," she whispered.  
  
"Just one thing," she motioned for him to go on, "I don't want you saying 'fuck' just yet, ok? I want to keep your mouth to a PG-13 level around here, ok?"  
  
"Ok, anything else?"  
  
He got up and went to put his empty plate in the sink, "You will have chores," at her look, he quickly added, "I'll help, don't worry! And this was an excellent omelet." She grinned.  
  
"You also have a curfew."  
  
She rolled her eyes, "What is it?"  
  
He rinsed the plate and fork and put them in the dishwasher, he stood up and leant against the sink. "10:00."  
  
She looked at her plate and said, "11:00."  
  
"10:00."  
  
She raised her eyes to his and said definitely, "10:30."  
  
He gave up, "Fine, but if you're later than 10:40 I'll put it to 10:00."  
  
"Wait, 10:40?"  
  
"You can be ten minutes late, but, "he held up a finger, "you better have a good reason and you can not make a habit out of it, am I clear?"  
  
She nodded, "Crystal, and you should get some sleep."  
  
He sighed, "I will. Are you going anywhere?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good, if I'm not up by 7:00 come and wake me up."  
  
"Sure no prob," she said as she watched him walk down to his bedroom. "Good nig- I mean morning," she opened the crickets and ate one.  
  
*****  
  
A ringing filled Gil's ears as he slowly woke up. His hand reached blindly for the phone, as his head was covered by his pillow. He fond it and brought to his ear, which was still under the pillow. "Yeah, Grissom," he said groggily.  
  
Catherine sat up a little more on her couch, "Gil? Sorry, did I wake you?"  
  
"Mmm, what time is it?"  
  
She smiled as she heard the sleepiness in his voice, "Don't you have a clock in your room?"  
  
"Yes, but I can't see it in this position," he mumbled, still under the pillow.  
  
She laughed lightly, "Are you under the covers?" She could hear his breathing clearly and everything was muffled.  
  
"No, my head is under the pillow."  
  
"Is Kaylenn being loud?" She snorted as the image of his ass sticking straight up and his head under the pillow popped into her head.  
  
The pillow shook as he shook his head, "No, not now anyways." He took his head out from under the pillow and looked at the clock, 6:13. "About three hours ago she was doing something, that sounded like she was moving furniture."  
  
She heard the bed creak as he moved, and she knew he wasn't under the pillow anymore, "Moving stuff, and out from under the pillow?"  
  
"Yeah, I couldn't breathe . . ." He scratched his shirtless stomach, "She sounded like she was on the second floor and the took something down to this floor."  
  
"You have a second floor? And that doesn't bother you?"  
  
"It's the attic to you. And no, she lives here now." He could hear her gasp and drop something, "You ok? What did you drop?"  
  
"A carton of orange-juice," she stooped down and picked it up, grabbing a cup from the open cupboard she said, "So, you decided?"  
  
"Uh-huh, look could you come over and just talk me through this and give me some pointers, maybe talk to Kaylenn."  
  
"Sure, I got some'n to show you anyways," she downed the juice and put the carton back in the fridge. Grabbing her purse, jacket, and keys, she headed to the door, "Look, I'm headed over there now, see ya in 20."  
  
He nodded and said, "Wake me when you get here."  
  
She smiled, "Your eyes are closed, aren't they?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Ok, I'll see you then," and with that she hung up and threw the phone on the couch as she exited the house.  
  
Gil laughed softly, as he turned off the phone, "Bye." He let his hand and the phone hit the mattress as he fell asleep.  
  
*****  
  
Twenty minutes later, Catherine pulled up to Gil's. She walked up to the door and used her key to let her inside; she was met by angry metal music. She looked into his living room to find Kaylenn sitting on the couch, watching TV. Kaylenn's head flew up and she stared at Catherine. "Ok, are you guys sleep'n with each other?"  
  
"No!" Catherine knew she had said it too fast, but there was nothing to hide . . . Okay. she knew that was a lie but Kaylenn didn't need to know that.  
  
Kaylenn's eyes rolled, "He's in his room."  
  
Catherine nodded and walked over to where she was to see who the metal band was. "Who's playing?" Catherine eyes grew as she saw a bald guy with a piercing in his chin, he wasn't all that bad looking, whispering and in a straightjacket.  
  
Kaylenn looked up at her, "Disturbed, the greatest underground metal band alive." She noticed Catherine's mouth slightly hanging open, "You think the lead singer's sexy don't you?" Catherine mouth shut closed and her eyes flew to Kaylenn's, "Don't worry, most people do."  
  
"Could you turn it down a tad?" Kaylenn shrugged her shoulders and turned it down, "Thanks."  
  
Catherine left Kaylenn and walked down to his bedroom. She leaned her head against the door and prepared herself for what could lay inside. A very naked and delicious Gil Grissom, he sometimes slept naked. She opened the door, and gasped at the sight before her. He was naked from what she could see and he had to be the cutest thing she had ever seen.  
  
Kaylenn came up behind her and whispered, "What is it? I heard you gasp."  
  
Catherine pushed the door open for Kaylenn to see, a huge grin threatened to crack the red-head's face, "He's sooo cute . . ." Her eyes went big, "Is he naked?"  
  
"I think so, I wish I had a camera," Catherine responded.  
  
Kaylenn nudged her, "Major Kodak moment and," she rubbed her hands together, "blackmail."  
  
"You're so mean!" Catherine looked at her and grinned devilishly, "You got a cam on you?"  
  
"Be right back," was all she said as she disappeared into the living room.  
  
Catherine looked at Gil: he was on his stomach, one arm was hanging off the bed and he was drooling slightly. The covers were only covering his butt and one leg. He was also wearing socks. He was absolutely, adorably, blackmail worthy.  
  
Kaylenn came back and Catherine moved out of the way to let her into the room. She took three pictures, one from their position, one from the floor, then one from above. "Wow!"  
  
Catherine looked at her, "What?"  
  
Kaylenn came back to her and whispered, "I never would've thought he would have a tattoo."  
  
"He has two."  
  
"Two?" Kaylenn almost choked on the word. "Don't tell me . . . It's on his ass."  
  
"It's on his stomach."  
  
Kaylenn nodded, and started walking down the hallway, "You'd better wake him, and tell me later."  
  
Catherine smiled at the retreating redhead, she wasn't so bad. Catherine walked into his room and closed the door. She walked over to his bed and sat down near the end of it. She grabbed his foot and started to shake it, "Gil?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Gil?"  
  
Again no answer.  
  
"GIL!"  
  
She burst out laughing as she saw him jump up and immediately grab a pillow and cover his very naked waist. "What the hell?!"  
  
Catherine couldn't stop laughing; she fell off the bed in a giggling mass. She slowly stopped laughing and opened her eyes to see Gil staring down at her. "That was not nice at all Cath."  
  
"I'm sorry, but oh my God was that funny," she smiled up at him.  
  
He shook his head, "Maybe to you." He pushed back and she heard him sit on the bed. Catherine sat up and dragged herself upon his bed. She laid down on her side and looked him up and down, while he did the same.  
  
His eyes were scrunched and he kept blinking rapidly, trying to wake up. His hair was tousled, making his curls even more noticeable. He had the cover pulled around his waist, and a pillow settled between his legs. "You know I have seen it before, you know." He tightened his hold on the pillow.  
  
She on the other hand was stretched out on her side, wearing tight blue jeans, the white spaghetti-strap she had be wearing earlier, and a blue- jean jacket. He also noticed that her boots were hanging off the edge of the bed, she looked gorgeous.  
  
"Why do you sleep naked but wear socks?"  
  
He smiled and looked down, tracing patterns onto the pillow, "My feet get cold." She snorted. "Hey, if my hands or feet get cold, I get cold. The rest of my body is like a furnace."  
  
"Fair enough." Her eyes trailed down his surprisingly muscular chest and onto his abs, and saw his tattoo peak up slightly from underneath the cover. He had lost a lot of weight. "Kaylenn asked about your tattoos."  
  
"She saw me naked?" The tips of his ears were turning red; he was still looking down.  
  
"Nope, you were," she gestured, "covered. But your back wasn't."  
  
He nodded, "What'd you tell her?"  
  
"Nothing," she closed her eyes, "but I was there when you got one and the other I heard only from Brass."  
  
"I was drunk for one and dared for the last one."  
  
"At least you got cool ones with meanings." She smiled as he looked at her, "It could have been a teddy bear holding a heart or a equally non- masculine one."  
  
"Hey, I like teddy bears!" Earned him a pillow in the face. He looked at her and said, "Could you wait out in the living room and let me get on some clothes on?"  
  
She grinned at him and crawled off the bed, "Well, I thought you were gonna do it with me watching?"  
  
He pointed to the door and she started for it, "Fine, I'll go."  
  
He watched her until she closed the door, then he jumped out of bed and ran for his bathroom. He could hear a cold shower calling his name.  
  
*****  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Gil came padding down the hallway clad in a white t- shirt, a navy button-up, blue jeans and socks. He walked into the living and stopped suddenly, "Why is there a TV in my living room?"  
  
Kaylenn answered him without ever losing eye contact with the music video she was watching, "I found it in the attic, or is it the second floor, and brought it down. Then I hooked it up to an extra cable-box you had."  
  
"You did that all by yourself?" Gil looked at the redhead in front of him.  
  
"Yeah, it was easy." She looked at him and smiled, "I've done harder things."  
  
"Where's Catherine?" He was still looking at her as if she had pinched him.  
  
Kaylenn pointed to the kitchen, "She's out in the back."  
  
Gil left Kaylenn as she started singing the hard rock song that playing. He went to his backdoor and slid it open, just as Catherine was coming back in. They collided and her glass of water spilled on him. Her head shot up and she looked at him, and once again she exploded in laughter as he just stood there shivering. "Oh my God, that's cold."  
  
She smiled at him sheepishly, "Sorry, I like it cold."  
  
He shrugged and took the almost empty glass from her hands, "You wouldn't if you were in my position." 'I've already had my cold shower', he thought as he turned back into the kitchen to fill her glass with more water.  
  
"At least it was only water," she closed the door behind her and walked her way over to the couch to join Kaylenn. "I did have soda originally. I thought you were gonna get dressed, not take an hour long shower."  
  
He walked to the couch and sat down on the coffee table, handing Catherine her water he said, "It was 15 minutes," he frowned as he looked to the TV, "some things came up."  
  
Kaylenn looked at him, seeing that his shirt was wet, she nudged Catherine's side, "What'd you do to him? Enter him in a wet t-shirt contest?'  
  
Gil gave them a look as Catherine nodded at her; then turned back to the TV. "What are you watching?" Two girls were currently making out in Catholic schoolgirl outfits in pouring rain.  
  
"T.A.T.U., 'All the Things She Said'." Gil nodded and Kaylenn added, "The girls are the singers, they're a couple." She changed the channel and country music filled the air.  
  
Catherine and Gil's heads whipped around as Kaylenn started to sing with the song, "What? I can't have layers?" They continued the stare. "Unlike most people, I listen to many kinds of music, Country, Contemporary Christian, any kind of Rock, though I prefer Angst Rock, instrumentals, and Pop." She cocked her head, "Though I hate Gospel, Bluegrass, R&B, Rap, and Hip Hop, well some anyways."  
  
She pointed to the TV, which now had a guy back-dropped by a burning watchtower, "And Garth Brooks is my fave Country singer, he also has a very cute butt." She got up and left them on the couch.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Don't worry Gil, I'm just going around the block. I'll be back around 8:00," she grabbed her coat and slammed the door.  
  
Catherine turned to Gil and held up some files, "Shall we?"  
  
**********  
  
~~~~You know my thoughts, ~~~~~  
  
~~~~Before I open up my mouth & try to speak, ~~~~  
  
~~~~You know my dreams, ~~~~  
  
~~~~Must be listening when I'm talking in my sleep, ~~~~  
  
~~~~I hope you know,~~~~  
  
~~~~I love having you around me, ~~~~  
  
~~~~Don't you know? ~~~~  
  
"Thankful" by Kelly Clarkson  
  
*********************  
  
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, more on the way! 


	6. Kaylenn

A/N: Thanks for the reviews jd burns and Crazi River. Also The Madhatter 2 for chap 4. Anyways, everything is in the first chap.  
  
**************  
  
Catherine leaned back, "Ok, what ground rules have you laid down for her so far?"  
  
Gil started to count on his fingers as he listed them, "Home by 10:30, though she has a ten-minute buffer if she has a good reason. She has to do her chores and she can't say fuck."  
  
She grabbed a paper pad she had brought with her and a pen. She started to list the things he had said and some notes. "She also can't have any boys in the house without you here, and she always has to tell you where she's going and who's she's going with, and what she plans to do." She said this all without looking up from the pad.  
  
"Those sound excellent."  
  
"I also got something for you on the way over," she pulled out another folder and handed it to him.  
  
He took it from her hand, their eyes locking when his fingers brushed hers. Gil cleared his throat nervously and Catherine got up quickly from where she sat and crossed over to the bar. She couldn't handle being that close to him. 'Though you could be around him when he was naked!' Oh, whom was she kidding, even then she wanted to jump him.  
  
He studied her as her breathing came more rapid, eyes closed; she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She opened her eyes to look at him and took some deep breaths, "The package," she gestured to thing in his hands.  
  
He looked down at it and his eyes went big. "Um, Cath . . . How did you get these?"  
  
Her eyes glazed over in mischief, "It's amazing what a badge and a quick flash of a gun can do to person."  
  
"You pulled your gun on a poor person who works in a high school?" He wanted to smile; she could hear it in his voice.  
  
She shook her head, "Nope, but that would have been fun too." He gave her a serious look. "All I did was position myself so she saw it, and voila! I got papers!" She smiled at him.  
  
"And you gave the poor woman a heart-attack probably . . ." He looked at the papers he held again, they were various forms for Kaylenn's school, "Thanks though."  
  
"What would you do without me, eh?"  
  
"I'd probably be even more in a cocoon than I already am."  
  
She looked at him and saw the look in his eye; he was serious. "Hey! Where's this coming from? Since the operation, you've been more social than you have been in the last two years or so."  
  
"That's what I mean, you brought me out of my phase." He sat up; "You and Lindsey came and visited with me and then you let me stay in your guest room for a week so you could watch me . . ." He threw up his hands and looked her in the eye. "Hell, Linds even dragged me to the zoo for her birthday!"  
  
She smiled at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
She pointed at him and said, "You look funny when your mad and you have a purple eye, that is bordered by my hand print."  
  
"And your lucky I took some aspirin."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "So, what did people think?"  
  
"That I, quoting Greg, 'was bitch-slapped by a big gorilla'."  
  
She burst out laughing, "It's not funny Catherine," she was in tears now, "he called you a gorilla."  
  
"Sorry, but the imagery," she fanned herself as she calmed down. She took some deep breaths and said, "But I will get him ba-"  
  
Both of their pagers went off.  
  
Gil sort of ran to the bar as Catherine walked calmly over to the alcove, where the front door was and her stuff were. He picked his up from the counter and read it. "A 405 at the Southgate Apartments, O'Reiley is meeting us there."  
  
Catherine fished her keys out of her purse and read the pager, "A 405, blah, blah, blah, 430B," they looked at each other.  
  
Gil walked over to where his shoes were and started to put them on, while still making eye contact with Catherine. "Dead Animal?"  
  
She shrugged as she picked up her purse and keys, "The only thing it says is, well, that's the only thing it says."  
  
"Ok" Gil turned off the TV. "Whose car?"  
  
"Mine. But we are gonna have to stop at the lab to drop off assignments for the guys."  
  
He nodded. "We also gotta find Kaylenn, she can stay at the lab."  
  
"Good idea." Catherine said.  
  
He grabbed his keys and wallet, and they left.  
  
*****  
  
Catherine pointed to a figure with red hair, "There she is!"  
  
Catherine pulled over to the curb next to the figure, who was accompanied by two guys, both of which Gil didn't like from their looks. They were both skaters from what Catherine and Gil could tell; one was more punk than the other with his slightly orange hair and pierced eyebrow. Gil rolled down his window and spoke to Kaylenn who was glaring at him, "Kaylenn get in the car, we're going to the lab."  
  
Kaylenn shook her head, "I'll walk back to the house."  
  
"Kaylenn come on, we have to hurry, and you don't have a key and we don't have time," yelled Catherine from the other side of the Tahoe's cab.  
  
Kaylenn turned to one of the boys, who had long auburn hair, "Well, I gotta go. Maybe I'll see you around."  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you around, maybe at school," the boy nodded at his friend and they took off on their skateboards.  
  
Kaylenn watched them and then climbed into the backseat, when she shut the door she said, "That was sooo embarrassing, those guys were cool and nice and you ruined it."  
  
"I didn't like them."  
  
Kaylenn shot a look at Gil, as Catherine kept her mouth shut and drove them to the lab.  
  
*****  
  
Gil came into the break room followed by Catherine and Kaylenn, who looked pissed. "Hello all," he stopped; only Greg and Warrick were in the room. "Where are Sara and Nick?"  
  
"I don't know, I just got here," Greg said, never taking his eyes off of Kaylenn, causing her to blush slightly and him to smile.  
  
Warrick sniggered at Greg and answered, "Her car died, so he went and picked her up . . ." He looked at Kaylenn and cocked his head, his green eyes glinting. "Who's the new girl Griss?"  
  
Gil looked up at the two men, both had their eyes locked on the girl in question, he frowned, "She's my niece."  
  
"HUH?" Greg's head flew up and he looked guiltily at Kaylenn, "You're related to him?" He pointed to Gil; she nodded. Greg visibly and audibly gulped.  
  
Leave it to Grissom to ruin the possibility of anyone asking her on a date.  
  
Catherine grinned and Gil just nodded slowly. "Well, Greg you're with us tonight,' he gestured between him and Catherine. "Warrick, you have a-"  
  
"Sorry, we're late!" Sara and Nick ran into the break room, gasping for breath and slightly pink. They also had very guilty looks on their faces.  
  
"Yeah, traffic it was horrible," Nick gasped out.  
  
Sara hit Nick in the stomach and pointed at Kaylenn who was smiling at them weirdly. "Who's the new girl?"  
  
Kaylenn walked over to Greg and sat on the counter, "I'm Gil's niece, Kaylenn."  
  
"You're also a Texan," Nick smiled at her.  
  
"Yes I am, but how'd you know?"  
  
"Your accent's not as thick as me, but I can still tell if a person is Texan or not."  
  
"San Antonio . . . Dallas?"  
  
Nick laughed slightly, "How did you know that?"  
  
"I don't know; all people with Texan accents come from Dallas it seems like."  
  
Nick winked at her and turned to Gil, "So, Boss, what do we get?"  
  
"Sara, Nick, you have a 419 found in an abandon car." He handed the file to Nick.  
  
"I-15," Sara raised an eyebrow, "50 miles outside of town, road trip!" Nick followed Sara out of the room as they left for the crime scene.  
  
Gil turned to Warrick and handed him a folder, "You got a 422, and officer was injured in a gang fight. If you have in problems call me."  
  
Warrick nodded, and looked at Greg, "See ya Sanders." Turning to Kaylenn, "Until next time Red."  
  
"It's Kaylenn!"  
  
Warrick turned around to look at her, "Then see ya, Red."  
  
Gil looked at Kaylenn, "Stay here and I'll be back soon to take you home, sorry again."  
  
"Can I wander?"  
  
Catherine put a hand on Gil's arm. "Yeah, but Kaylenn? Just don't get in anybody's way."  
  
"Cool," she jumped off the counter, causing her hand to graze Greg's arm, he gasped. Kaylenn looked at him oddly and said, "See you around."  
  
Greg watched as she left the office, 'What is it about her that drives me crazy?'  
  
"Greg come on, and stop staring at Kay as if you can have her," Greg snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Catherine who was smiling at him . . . Gil was nowhere in sight, "Gil would kill you in a second and she's too young."  
  
Greg nodded, "I know, it's just . . ." Catherine gave him an odd look, "Nothing, let's catch up with Griss."  
  
********************  
  
~~~~Right there, ~~~~  
  
~~~~And I'll be waiting by the window, ~~~~ ~~~~For your smile to come through, ~~~~  
  
~~~~And I'll be waiting in the darkness when I call out to you, ~~~~  
  
~~~~And I'll remember when you told me, ~~~~  
  
~~~~I could trust in you. ~~~~  
  
*********************  
  
A/N: Ok, this is my least fav chapter so far, probably because I wrote it at weird time for me, but also it's like a huge, long exposition. And I don't like writing those if it isn't a memory. But I hope you guys liked it. I think you'll like the next one, it kinda becomes more CSI. 


	7. Cases and a Couch

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews; you guys keep me going! This is probably my fav chap, because it was a ball to write, and I wrote it the fastest. Enjoy!  
  
************  
  
Gil smirked as he came into the room where the body was. The crime scene wasn't funny but the look on Greg's face was; he was an interesting shade of green. "You alright Greg?"  
  
Greg looked up at him and then said, "I'll be back in a sec; I have to empty my stomach contents."  
  
Greg rushed out of the room, careful of potential evidence but paying no heed to Catherine as he bulldozed his way past her. She stumbled lightly and then looked over to where Gil was photographing the victim. "What was his problem?"  
  
"Oh, you know Greg, he sees something for the first time, he throws-up," blue-gray met blue, "then he never gets sick again. Did David get the dog outside? " He moved from the body and started to photograph the surroundings, "This was his first suicide."  
  
She cocked her head, "You sure this was a suicide? And yes he got it, though he doesn't know who'll do the autopsy on it."  
  
"Why did you find something? And don't worry about the autopsy, I'll do it." Gil crossed the room to where she was standing, looking at the wall. Catherine shook her head slightly.  
  
"Yeah, this blood splatter isn't from a victim who cut himself."  
  
Gil took some pictures of the splatter in question and asked her, "How do you know that?"  
  
"The blood splatter is all over the wall and there is a void that looks to be an arm being pressed against the wall, suggesting a fight of some sorts." Gil looked at her in awe, he hadn't even paid attention to the wall though that was the first thing she noticed. She walked around the victim and then crouched next to one of the body's arms, "You see these cuts?"  
  
He crouched behind her and looked at them, "They're pointing up and down," he looked quickly at her, "most are side to side."  
  
She nodded, "And why is that Dr. Grissom?"  
  
He gave her an odd look. "Because suicide by slitting the wrists is usually across the wrist, because they don't know it's up and down that kills." She looked at him strangely, he locked eyes with her, "The artery doesn't roll quite as much from the pressure."  
  
She took the camera from him and took pictures of the cuts. Gil's eye ran across the room. He spotted the victim's desk. He walked over to it and pointed to the lamp, "Cath. She's left handed, the lamp is on the right side, and the mouse-pad is on the left."  
  
"What does that tell you?"  
  
Both of the CSIs jumped at the sound of Greg's voice. Gil, regaining his composer, pointed to the victim. "You see the marks on her hands, they tell everything."  
  
Catherine stood up and started to photograph the desk area, making sure to show what side each item was on. "He'll probably show you why that's important when we get back." She looked at Greg who was staring back at her. "When he told me the first time, he used markers and my skin," Catherine smiled devilishly at the sight of Greg repositioning his belt buckle.  
  
Gil shook his head at the two and walked into the apartment's bathroom. 'Well, she wasn't the cleanest person . . .' Gil took in the dirty wet towels strung around the room; clothes joined them as well. He also noticed something orange reflecting in the mirror; he stared at the reflection for a minute.  
  
Greg and Catherine's heads slowly turned to the direction of the bathroom, when they heard Gil mutter, "Holy shit."  
  
"Ah, I haven't heard Gil say that in a while."  
  
Brass walked into the room and looked at the scene before him: a woman in her mid twenties, laid out on her side, covered in blood from the vertical cuts on both of her arms. The room had some blood splatter on the walls and furniture; there was also no sign of the knife or weapon used. He cocked an eyebrow, "Sorry, Sheriff Mobley Dick, got O'Reiley and my cases mixed up. Thus causing me to be late by thirty minutes."  
  
Catherine straightened and started to walk to the bathroom, "It's okay Jim. Now you give us the details."  
  
"Sure thing," he pulled out a note-pad and flip through the pages. "Her name is Caitlyn Ryes. She's twenty-four, single, and ooh . . . She's a hooker!"  
  
The blond shook her strawberry-blonde locks at the stout man's sarcasm, as she strode out of the room. Catherine stepped into the bathroom to find Gil standing inside the bathtub. "Umm . . . Gil? I don't think this is the proper time."  
  
"And I didn't know men could, uh," his flushing face slightly, "shoot this far."  
  
"What?" Her eyes drifted up towards the ceiling to see . . . "Fuck me!"  
  
Gil gave her that famous lop-sided smile of his, "All your time as a stripper and you never saw this stuff."  
  
"Stuff like it, but still," her hands gestured violently to him. "Given where your standing and where those panties are clinging, that's a good six feet . . ." she shrugged her shoulders, "plus there's gravity."  
  
"What did you guys find?" Brass walked in and looked up into the corner, there was a pair of orange panties clinging to some sort of white, crusty substance. "If that's what I think it is, she was good at her job," Brass wrinkled his nose.  
  
Gil's head snapped toward Brass, "Her job? And where's O'Reiley?"  
  
"With Nick and Sara . . ." He pointed to the panties. "She was a prostitute, Gil."  
  
The other man nodded and gestured to Catherine, "Catherine could you?"  
  
"What?!" Her head flew up and she blushed, she had been thinking about whether Gil could shoot- "You want me to photo it?"  
  
He nodded and she took her pictures. When the camera made its last click, the panties chose to fall right on top of Gil's head.  
  
He didn't say a word.  
  
*****  
  
Nick and Sara skid down the steep hill that lead down to the car from the road. They reached the bottom and surveyed the scene before them. A navy blue Nova sat in the middle of a patch of weeds. Cops were milling around, and one was talking to a couple of teens, four, two girls and two boys. Sara's eye traveled from the back of the car to the top of the hill where the road was.  
  
"The car was purposely driving down into the ditch, the tire-tracks never swayed."  
  
Nick nodded at her and then said, "Do you want the car or the surrounding area?"  
  
"The area." She started walking back up the hill and Nick watched her, he smiled and shook his head.  
  
'This is not the time or the place to think about those things,' he thought about this as he walked over to what looked like the first officer on the scene. "Excuse me? Were you the first on the scene?"  
  
The cop nodded, and Nick couldn't help but think of him as a baby. He couldn't be more than twenty-two, and with blond hair and blue-eyes, he looked even younger. "Yes Sir, I was."  
  
Nick took out a note-pad and a pen and said, "I'd like to ask you some questions, ok?" The boy nodded and Nick carried on. "When you got here, did you see anything suspicious?"  
  
The boy nodded and started to walk to the car, "Yeah, it's this way." When they reached it, Nick noticed that there was a fence post next to the Nova, and nailed to it was a piece of paper with typing on it. "I think it's lyrics or some kind of poem, but I'm pretty sure it's part of the scene, since it's so out of place."  
  
Nick nodded, and looked around, "Are those the four that found it?"  
  
"Yes Sir."  
  
"Why were they out this far?"  
  
"The boys are brothers, they live about twenty miles or so that way." He pointed into the direction of Las Vegas. "They were taking their girlfriends home when the oldest brother had to take a leak, the rest is plenty explanatory."  
  
The CSI looked around the surrounding area of the car, "Did they touch anything?"  
  
"Nope, the boy came up close enough to see what was inside, saw the body and bolted up to the road to call for help."  
  
"Ok, thanks, if I need anything else, I'll be sure to ask . . ."  
  
"Ted Brandon."  
  
Nick nodded.  
  
The cop left and Nick got out his camera and started to photograph the car and the ground around it. He didn't find any footprints or any other kinds of tracks in the hard soil. He opened door of the vehicle and peered at the body.  
  
A female of about sixteen to eighteen; she had long blond-hair, and lifeless emerald eyes. Nick closed his eyes and sighed heavily, someone would definitely miss the girl, and it was a shame to see such beauty lost to death.  
  
"Nick?"  
  
He looked to his side and smiled faintly at Sara, who was also studying at the girl. "Hey Sar."  
  
"God, why do they always have to be so young?"  
  
He shrugged and said, "Car or area?"  
  
"Why aren't we extra nice this night?"  
  
"I'm in a giving mood." He stated simply.  
  
"As you proved earlier."  
  
He looked in her eyes and saw some of the passion that they had gone through earlier that night. "And I'll be happy to do it again after shift."  
  
She smiled and replied, "The car."  
  
Nick laughed slightly and back away to let Sara in.  
  
*****  
  
Greg walked into the DNA lab loaded down with evidence to be process. He put the stuff down at his station and started shifted out what went to trace, prints, and what stayed with him. After that he dropped of what needed to be dropped off at the other labs in CSI, and decided one little snack wouldn't hurt him.  
  
Greg opened the door to the lounge and suck in a heavy breath. Dammit she was here! Kaylenn was laid out over the couch reading a book. She looked up as he came into the room, "Hey Greg, how's the case?"  
  
After a moment he answered, "Good, Griss got into a sticky situation but that was all." He smiled fondly at thought memory of his boss with orange panties on his head, he knew what was on those too, so that had made it even more ironic and funny than it already was.  
  
"What do you mean, 'sticky situation'?" She raised an arched eyebrow.  
  
"Some panties fell on his head."  
  
"Panties." The amusement was not lost in her deadpan voice.  
  
He nodded, "Yeah, and two guesses to what was on them."  
  
She looked down and closed her eyes and whispered, "Gross!"  
  
"Uh-un."  
  
"Is he- is he here yet?" At Greg's questioning look she added, "I'm beyond bored and I also want to see him."  
  
"They didn't come back with me. When I left Catherine was hauling him off to an apartment that nobody was living in, he was going to get a quick bath."  
  
Kaylenn started laughing, although she new from her own father, that Gil Grissom had gone through much worse than panties covered in semen. "Trust me here, my Uncle's been through a hell of a lot worse."  
  
Greg looked up vending machine, "Really?"  
  
She nodded and then walked out of the room, leaving Greg stunned and his bag of chips stuck.  
  
*****  
  
Kaylenn looked up from the lab results she had been looking at and saw Nick and Sara disappear behind Gil's office door. She looked around, apparently nobody had noticed; everyone was still at work. And she knew Greg would have yelled out to them, but he was still rolling his chair around in the lab, Queens of the Stone Age blasting. She looked back at the door and saw it shuddered.  
  
"So, I wonder how long till that's Gil and Catherine?" She said under her breath as she looked back down at the lab results.  
  
*****  
  
"He'll be out in a min; you done?" Brass looked down at Catherine, who was putting a knife covered in blood, into a bag.  
  
"Yep, I'm all done here." She looked out into the hall behind him, "Is he ok? I mean, that's a pretty traumatic thing to happen to a person and he didn't even flinch!"  
  
Brass' face turned a sudden green shade; Catherine noticed and asked, "What?"  
  
"Sorry, I was just remembering when he was a rookie and fell into a vat of shit," her eyes grew big, "literally."  
  
"Anyways, it wasn't all shit, it was just waste in general, trash, other human waste."  
  
"How'd it happen?" Catherine said disbelieving.  
  
"We got to this place, a factory, and it smelled. Well, when we were all staying away from the smell, Gil broke off from the group and walked over to this vat that was covered with boards. He went up the ladder and was going to pry the boards lose by standing over them, like this," he spread his legs and bent down like he was going to pick up something. He straightened and continued, "So he does that, but what he didn't know was the that the end portion of the board walk opposite the ladder had been covered in a slick, greasy chemical. Well, his boot did not stick and he slip and fell on the boards which were rotten."  
  
"My God, he could have been hurt badly."  
  
Brass nodded, "So, we rushed over to the vat and I climbed up the ladder and saw nothing, then a hand broke the surface and I grabbed it. I hauled him out to the edge of the vat and he looked straight at me and gave me one of those typical boy-smiles of him and said, 'I-"  
  
"'I solved the case, take my clothes', then I proceeded to pass out and you guys stripped me, and threw me into the nearest shower."  
  
Catherine smiled warmly, though her eyes were dancing with laughter. "Are you always this dirty?"  
  
"You've worked with me for almost 18 years, you should know by now." He smiled at her and threw Brass the towel that he had used to dry his now spiky hair. Catherine thought that look of 'just rolled out of bed' suited him perfectly, especially since he was dressed in a black-shirt and jeans. It also helped that he was smiling.  
  
He turned to her to see her staring at him, with; well he couldn't really tell but it really didn't matter. "Catherine?"  
  
"What?! Oh yeah." She walked out of the room and Gil and Brass traded a look.  
  
*****  
  
Gil and Catherine were about to walk into his office, when Catherine had stopped and looked quickly at him. "What is it Cath?"  
  
"Nothing, I was just remembering our fight yesterday about Kaylenn." She pointed to the bruises that were still on his face, "Sorry that I lost my temper."  
  
He smiled, "Just don't do it again, I happen to like my face."  
  
"I do too." She smiled sassily at him, but inside she was blushing and screaming at him to pin her against the wall.  
  
"I know you do," he said simply as he walked into his office.  
  
She knew of what he was referring to, but why did he have to bring it up when she was starting to break . . . No, she had to tell him before and if they did anything beyond friendship. She entered his office to find him staring at his couch with a perplexed look and Kaylenn playing on her Game Boy, while listening to rock on Gil's radio.  
  
Catherine and Kaylenn followed Gil's gaze to a small white stain on the left side of his couch.  
  
Gil pointed to the spot and said, "Who stained my couch?"  
  
*************  
  
~~~~ The pressures and demands, ~~~~  
  
~~~~ Staring at the knife, ~~~~  
  
~~~~ And holding in your hand, ~~~~  
  
~~~~ What used to be your life. ~~~~  
  
"I Want My Life" by Smile Empty Soul  
  
*****************  
  
A/N: Hey, you would have had this chapter sooner, but it was a bitch to edit, for my Beta and me. And I kinda lost the disk. So, tell me what you think, and press Review! Chappie 8 won't be here for probably a week, because I'm stuck and I'm writing chapter 9, and trying to do 'I Never Cried' . . . So, bear with me. 


	8. 1, 2, 3 Lyrical Tension

A/N: Holy Crackerjacks! I'm early, I told you I probably wouldn't be done until at least Fri. . . . I so kicked ass! Hopefully it's good, cause this was the hardest chap to write so far!  
  
****************  
  
Warrick walked into the locker room to find Sara up against her locker and Nick standing way too close to her, they were smiling and Sara said something to him, causing him to laugh slightly. She saw Warrick and quickly put some space between her and Nick. Both of them started to blush slightly. "Hey, what's up? How'd the case go?"  
  
They both nodded but Nick spoke up, "We're stuck, we found a poem by the car, but we have no idea where it came from or who wrote it."  
  
"We're waiting for the backlog in the lab to get sorted through," Sara said as she opened her locker and took out a fresh shirt.  
  
Warrick started to unbutton his when he asked, "Do you have any suspects?"  
  
Nick took off his shirt and threw it into his opened locker; he grabbed his other shirt and slid it on. "No, why are you asking?"  
  
Warrick held up his hands, "Whoa, don't get hostile, Griss put me with you two. I'm done with mine."  
  
Sara smiled as she closed her locker, having changed. "You're on our case, that's good, we need another person. Maybe you've heard of the poem."  
  
"Maybe," Warrick slid his shirt on and started to button it.  
  
Nick closed his and turned to Sara and whispered something; she nodded and left. "So, Nick, why didn't you tell me you're with Sara?"  
  
"I'm not." He had sat astride the bench and seem very interested in the metal.  
  
Warrick sat down opposite form him, "What do you mean?"  
  
"We're together in that, we have sex all the time and we spend time with each other practically every waking moment. But we've never once slept together, or even talked about going on an actual date." He met Warrick's eyes, "I love her, but I'm afraid that she'll reject me."  
  
"Or are you more afraid that she still likes Griss?"  
  
Nick snorted, "That more."  
  
Warrick shook his head, "He has never once showed her that he could harbor feelings for her, or at least in my eyes, he hasn't." He threw up his hands in mock frustration. "Hell, ever since the summer started, Catherine and him have threatened to burn down the building or at least suffocate us in their tension." Nick started laughing. "So, you see, I don't think you got to worry about the boss and Sara, just go for it."  
  
"Maybe it'll knock some sense into Grissom and Cath." Nick said half- heartily.  
  
"Now that's an idea!"  
  
*****  
  
Gil and Catherine walked into the morgue to find Al Robbins, the Grave Shift coroner, listening to the Daytime coroner's music. Catherine turned it off with a grimace, causing Al to look up from the body of Caitlyn Ryes. "Hello Catherine, Gil."  
  
"So, what can you tell me about her, Doc?"  
  
Gil's attention focused on a birthday card on the counter, he pointed to it and said, "By the way, happy birthday Al."  
  
Catherine turned to him and said, "Oh that's right, it is your birthday, happy B-day! How old are you?"  
  
"67."  
  
"Getting' on up there, uh?"  
  
"Yes, Catherine, but lets not forget you're on way to 50," Al smiled as she hit him on the shoulder.  
  
She pointed to Gil, "Yeah well, he'll get there faster."  
  
Gil smirked and Al noticed his attention was on the card, "Oh, your mother sent me that."  
  
Gil opened it, and read the words, 'Love, Sams'. "Sams? I don't remember you calling her that."  
  
"Ah, it's an old nickname that I used before you were born."  
  
Gil nodded and walked over to stand next to Catherine. She looked between the two men, "I didn't know you guys went the far back."  
  
"Yeah, me and Samantha have been friends since around a year and half before he was born. We went to college together." He smiled fondly, and Catherine could have sworn she saw something more than friendship in his eyes. It quickly vanished.  
  
She looked over to Gil, who was not paying attention to them but had all of his attention fixed on Caitlin's clothes. "Gil?" He didn't look up and Catherine had a scary moment, when she flashed back to the year before, when his hearing would go out several times. That's why he had never answered them sometimes; he hadn't known that they had even talked to him. "Gil?"  
  
He grabbed the bag that held the clothes and opened it. He reached in and pulled out a folded piece of paper; Catherine stared at him surprised. "How did we miss that?"  
  
He shrugged, "I don't know, but we would have found it eventually." He said this all while opening it, it was a poem, a poem about suicide. "Do you think it's from the murderer?"  
  
"You bet your ass I do." She, who had been reading over his shoulder, smiled at him.  
  
A few moments later they were positioned around the body of the Ryes woman. "So Doc, when did she die?"  
  
"Around noon, it's a amazing that you even found her this early, since everybody would have been at work."  
  
Gil's head bobbed down to look at the cuts, they bothered him. "An elderly couple heard a disturbance in the apartment below, which happen to be Caitlin's apartment."  
  
He lifted an arm to show the cuts, "Which would explain why the cuts would be pointed outward," Gil looked up at the doctor over his glasses, "this may have still been suicide, but she definitely didn't cut herself, Gil"  
  
*****  
  
Gil was about to walk into the break room when Kaylenn stopped him. "What Kay?"  
  
"Can I be at the meeting? Plus, I'm starving, and you guys are gonna be eating." She whined at him.  
  
"No, you can't be in the meeting," she was about to begin her retort, but he cut her off, "but I don't care if you get some food. When your done, you eat it in my office, and you'll stay there till I drop you off at home in about 45 minutes." He looked at her, "Ok?"  
  
She rolled her eyes slightly and said, "Yeah, it's cool."  
  
He smiled crookedly and led her inside, where everyone was assembled except for Greg. "Where is he?"  
  
Though that question was answered immediately when the person came skidding to a stop in the room, "Sorry, I had to try to finish something for Ecklie, I didn't though. I swear that guy has been driving me to an early grave. It's always 'Greg do this, Greg do that by this amount of time or I'll kill you.'" He saw Kaylenn and smiled at her, "You'd think a man like that would be on Paxil or Prozac, at least Midol."  
  
Kaylenn started laughing, and was thrown into more laughter when he turned to Sara and deadpanned, "Kinda like you Sar."  
  
She chucked a french-fry at him. Everyone started laughing as Greg threw back one; even Gil broke into a smile. He couldn't help but think, 'This is my family,'  
  
Gil and Cath as the dad and mom; meanwhile Brass was the grumpy uncle. Warrick and Nick acted like the twins, different yet the same in rank. Sara was with no doubt, the adopted, former, only child; she could be selfish but then again she sort of looked after the group. And then there was Greg, who was the baby of the family, the goof ball, limelight stealing person.  
  
Gil's eyes traveled to Catherine, and thought of Lindsey, the other baby of the family, because she was as spoiled as she could ever be.  
  
Though when his eyes fell on Kaylenn his heart fell. Where did she fit in? Who was she, besides his niece? The niece he had only seen around five times in her whole life? What role did she play? What role could she ever play?  
  
"Griss?"  
  
Gil looked up to see Greg's hand waving in his face. He batted it away. "Stop it." He glanced around the group and asked, "Ok, Nick, Sara, you know Warrick is working with you right?"  
  
"Yeah, but Griss?" Gil raised an eyebrow towards Sara. "We found something and we have no idea who wrote it, but it seems to be a poem."  
  
Greg, Gil, and Catherine all shared a look, though Catherine started speaking first, "A poem? We found a poem on the body of our victim." She looked at Gil, "You think they're related?"  
  
He shrugged and motioned for Sara to read it. All of them leaned in involuntary, even Kaylenn, since Gil had yet to throw her out.  
  
"Wanted money and hope/ And a dream to carry me forever/ This is all the hope I got left/ Help me to get it together/ Now, can sing or act or dance but I still won't get far/ Unless you help me, please, to be a big star," Sara glanced over at Nick, who was looking at her strangely.  
  
"The girl, Jesse Wise, was trying to get an agent for her career as a singer." Nick said to Gil, who was glancing at the other poem in his hand.  
  
"Oh, Please/ Fate stay with me, and guide me along my way/ There has been so many problems/ So please stay, please, stay/ Fate stay with me, will you help me on my way/ Will you end my troubles/ Will you please stay, please . . ."  
  
Sara looked at the page and said, "Her Uncle has just died and her mother has been diagnosed with cancer; and this has all happened in the last two to three months."  
  
She started to read again, "I don't want to be a queen, no, / Or a princess with all my jewels, oh / If you could guide me/ And you could help me/ But don't go too far, I just want to be a star."  
  
Kaylenn raised her eyes slowly to Sara. She was now seated on the couch and had been half listening and half trying to be invisible so Gil wouldn't throw her out. Greg noticed her eyes, since he had been the only one who had paid any attention to her at all. It wasn't his fault; she just attracted him, like a moth to a flame. His eyes turned to Gil, 'And if I touch the flame I want so badly, I'll get zapped.'  
  
"I'm thinking she was a trusting girl, who just wanted to be loved and wanted in her time of agony, selfish in a way but human non of the less." People sort of jumped at the sound of Warrick's voice since this was the first time he had talked. But Gil nodded at his statement; this poem was starting to mirror the girl's life perfectly, and it was scary . . . And incredibly sick.  
  
"Yes guide me/ Forever guide me/ Will you stay with me and guide me along the way/ If I succeed because of you, fate my friend," Sara looked at them and a tear ran down her cheek, "I'll be so happy . . ."  
  
"And the sad part is that maybe all she wanted now was to die, she didn't fight back." Everyone looked at Kaylenn.  
  
How's chorused around the room. Kaylenn smirked, "You guys leave your files laying around everywhere and I'm naturally curious, but that's not the point. The point is, is that she didn't fight back and that song is all about doing anything to get what you want, and I bet everything that, in her case, it was death." She got up and walked over to the table. "Her life was probably one people would envy up until her Uncle died, and then it began to get ugly . . . Maybe she just couldn't cope."  
  
"So, this guy probably knew that and knew he could get her to let him kill her."  
  
"That might be true Cath, but there's no evidence to lead us down the road," Warrick looked at her and continued, "all we have is a missing knife and that won't tell us very much."  
  
Greg was nodding at Warrick's statement, "Yeah, I haven't finished with all the evidence but I haven't found any to suspect there was another person with her. But if the cases are related, then we got a killer of some sor-" He sat up a bit and was staring at Kaylenn, "You said song, not poem."  
  
"That's because it isn't a poem, it's just written that way, but it is a song."  
  
Catherine waved her hand impatiently, "Well? What song is it?"  
  
" 'Fate Stay With Me' by Alanis Morissette." Kaylenn looked at Gil as if she was waiting for him to do something. A light went off in his eyes, when he figured out what she wanted.  
  
"I tried to kill the pain/ But only brought more/ I lay dying/ And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal/ I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming/ Am I too lost to be saved/ Am I too lost?" Gil read it off the page in a blur, and looked at Kaylenn.  
  
"Keep reading, I know it but I want to see how much he cut out."  
  
He nodded and continued to read it, "My God, my tourniquet/ Return to me salvation/ My God, my tourniquet/ Return to me salvation." He traced his fingers down the page, "There are a lot of 'dot, dot, dot's on it and then he continues."  
  
"My wounds cry for the grave/ My soul cries for deliverance/ Will I be denied Christ/ Tourniquet/ My suicide . . ."  
  
Catherine shook her head, "What the hell am I letting Lindsey listen to?"  
  
"I doubt Lindsey listens to Rock just yet, she'll get into that probably in High School." Kaylenn was looking at Catherine.  
  
"You're right, she likes Hip Hop and Techno."  
  
Kaylenn made a face, "Trust me, High School will change that."  
  
Catherine was about to fire back something, when Gil stepped in, "Kay? What's the song?"  
  
" 'Tourniquet' by Evanescence . . ." She faced Gil and said, "It the best song on that CD of theirs. I bought it for that."  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow, "You bought the CD for a song about suicide?"  
  
"Yeah, the song is awesome and written and sang beautifully, it's a powerful song and I can relate to it . . . Suicide attempts kind of run in the family."  
  
All heads turned slowly toward Gil, who was trying hard not to break under their gaze. "Is there anything missing from the lyrics?" He was desperately trying to change to subject.  
  
The red-head nodded, "Yeah, the whole second verse is missing . . . It was like he didn't even want to hide the possibility that it wasn't a suicide."  
  
"What'd mean by that?"  
  
Kaylenn turned to Warrick and said, "The second verse does talk about that she wants to die, that she wants God to save her."  
  
Nick leaned forward and looked around at everyone. "So do we agree that we're on the same case?" Nods and Yes' were exchanged.  
  
Then Greg noticed someone coming down the hall and the color drained from his face, "Shit! Ecklie's here and I'm not finished with his samples!"  
  
He jumped out of his chair, causing it to fly back into the wall, and proceeded to become a blur of white lab coat as he raced out of the room. No one stopped laughing for a very long time.  
  
****************  
  
~~ Name your price, I would give anything, ~~  
  
~~ I want to start over again, ~~  
  
~~ What do I want? ~~ ~~ I have nothing to say, ~~  
  
~~ What ever it is, I want it today ~~  
  
'New Beginning' by TRAPT (this is my POV of Nick's feelings toward Sara right now)  
  
****************  
  
A/N: Ok, I hope you liked it, just review and tell me what you think! 


	9. First Day Gitters and Gil Gets a Surpris...

A/N: Ok, this chap drops the whole last 2 chaps story lines. It's back to Kaylenn, Gil, and Cath. Don't worry, the case and other characters will return, but only after this chap and the next. Sorry, but I just had to drop some story lines to make these chaps work.  
  
***********  
  
"Kaylenn! Are you up?!"  
  
The girl in question groaned.  
  
There were two things in the world she hated more than anything. Waking up early, for the first time in months, for the first day of school and having cramps during her period. Today she had them both.  
  
She could hear her uncle walk up the stairs to her room; he got to her landing and knocked on her door. "Come on Kay. You need to get ready . . . Kay?" He opened the door slowly and walked over to her bed.  
  
Kaylenn borrowed under the pillows more when she felt the bed dip as he sat on it. "It's the first day of school, and you need to get there early to look around." She growled at him. "Hey, it's not my fault, you said to wake you when I got home. And I repeatedly told you I would get home early. Didn't I?" She grunted in answer. "Good, then it's not my fault and I'll wake you in an hour."  
  
She silently thanked any Gods that might be listening as he left her room.  
  
*****  
  
Gil laid in his bed reading, when he heard his door creak open. He looked over his glasses to see Kaylenn standing in one of his sweatshirts. It ended in mid thigh on thigh on her, and she had about for inches in the sleeve. She also had a pained expression on her face. "Kaylenn? What's wrong?"  
  
"Do you have any Tylenol?"  
  
"No, but I have some Motrin 800."  
  
She arched an eyebrow; he smiled a bit. "It's an 800 mlg."  
  
Her face brightened, "Can I have one?"  
  
"Yeah, it's in the medicine cabinet."  
  
She nodded and disappeared into his bathroom. She called out to him, causing her voice to echo a bit, "We need to go shopping for me tonight; I'll have list of stuff I'll need for school or at least an idea."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Also, just general shopping that I need to do as a women."  
  
Gil grimaced, "What do you mean?"  
  
"I need women stuff," she appeared in the doorway and walked over to him, "I can't keep using your non-smell products and shit like that."  
  
"Hey! My," he held up his fingers and gestured quotation marks, " 'shit' is perfectly usable and it works."  
  
"Yes, but it doesn't smell," Kaylenn wined as she laid her head down on Gil's other pillow.  
  
He shook his head, "What is it with women and the smelly-products?"  
  
"Guys like it?" She shrugged her shoulders as she buried her head between his pillows.  
  
Gil's mouth twitched as he saw what she was doing. She was snuggled against him with her head buried in his pillows. "Yes, we do don't we?"  
  
He watched as her head bobbed up and down, "Your gonna sleep the rest of the time in my bed aren't you?" She nodded. "Why don't you like sleeping in your own bed?" She shrugged. "Kaylenn?" His voice was stern, she was hiding something and he wanted to find out what it was.  
  
She raised her head up and looked at him with mild irritation, "Leave me alone Gil."  
  
"No, since you got here, you've been sleeping in my clothes and most of the time in my bed. Now, I want to know why?"  
  
She looked at him, her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. "Cuz it smells like you and not me."  
  
He cocked his head and raised his eyebrow.  
  
She shook her head ruefully, "God Gil! You can be really dense for a detective sometimes!" She jumped off of the bed and started pacing the room. He could see the tears starting to wind their way down her pretty face. "My parents were never home, you knew that. But did you know that the house only smelled of me. My friends would come over and always comment that the house smelled exactly like me. Vanilla and cinnamon, and a tad bit of orange thrown in there."  
  
She looked at him, "My mom smelled of lavender and mint, while as you know, my dad had a fetish for cologne." Her voice was starting to break. "Those are strong fucking scents, especially Old Spice! They were never there, and if they were, it was to catch a few hours of sleep, and change clothes!"  
  
"For two years, I never even saw my parents, unless it was to say goodnight or on their way out!" She finally broke and sat on the end of the bed, rocking back and forth as the sobs racked her body.  
  
Gil looked on in shock. He hadn't know it was him, he hadn't known that it was him that she wanted to reassure herself actually lived with. She had to make sure, she to make sure she smelled him. He though he had figured it out, he was still clueless as to what he should do next.  
  
He crossed the bed and pulled in into his arms. He stroked her hair as she finally started to calm do a bit. He raised her chin, "You ok?" She nodded after a moment. "Good, how 'bout breakfast?"  
  
Kaylenn searched his face for anything other than what shown through his eyes, love and what she could only describe as reflection. She smiled slowly, "Yeah, food would be great." He grinned and got up, while also pulling her up. She started to walk out but stopped and turned around to face him, "Gil?"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"Thanks . . ."  
  
He watched as she left.  
  
*****  
  
At 8:30, Kaylenn stood in front of her new high school, Crestview High.  
  
It looked like an old one that seriously needed a new paint job. The school's colors were orange and blue, which the school was painted in those, though it was starting to turn colors in some area. Looking at it, she couldn't help but feel as though she was looking at the High School in Grease. It was built almost exactly like it.  
  
She decided she liked it and looked around at the people who were milling around: Jocks, Preps, Cheerleader-types, Geeks, Skaters, Punks, Goths, and finally the Outcasts. 'Good, outcasts, I'll probably fit right at home with them . . . or the Punks and Skaters.' She thought as she headed toward the front entrance.  
  
"Kaylenn! Wait up, girl!" A girl with long, straight, blond hair came flying towards Kaylenn. The girl stopped in front of her and said, "Sorry, I'm late . . . Declan was late picking me up."  
  
"It's ok Phoebe, I'm glad you didn't forget me." Kaylenn smiled as they started for the doors.  
  
"Shit no, forget a cool girl like you in a school full of Smart-Asses and the Brain-Dead? I don't think that could ever happen." The girls laughed as they entered the building.  
  
Kaylenn looked at Phoebe, while she was rambling on about the latest 'Back to School Gossip'. Since the blond had shown up Kaylenn's nerves had started to ease a bit. Phoebe was a Senior like her and she also had some of the same courses as she. Now if they had the same classes was another problem, they would get their schedules in Homeroom.  
  
They had met at Prep-day but hadn't talked since then . . . Personally, Kaylenn had forgot about their idea of meeting.  
  
"Kaylenn look, I'll see you after school at the least."  
  
"What?" Kaylenn snapped out of her thoughts, "Oh! Oh, we don't have Homeroom together?"  
  
"No, thank God we only have it like maybe three times a year, at the most. It's probably the most hated class on the Earth."  
  
The redhead nodded at Phoebe, "Yeah, it was the same at my old school."  
  
"You'll have to tell me about it some other time, I gotta see a teacher in, like, two minutes, and she's all the way in the L-hall." She started down the hall and stopped and looked back at Kaylenn, "I'll see you later." Then she turned a corner.  
  
"Now where's Homeroom," her finger trailed down the list of names on the list for Senior homerooms, until she found her name, "D-28. Shit, where the hell is that?"  
  
"Ah, you're with me. Hi, my name's Zoe Keegan!" Kaylenn turned to see a startling and exotically beautiful girl, with long, raven black hair that looked like silk.  
  
Kaylenn recovered and nodded to the girl, "Ello, I'm Kaylenn."  
  
Zoe raised an elegantly arched eyebrow, "Kaylenn, huh? That's unusual, but sexy."  
  
"Sexy?" Now it was Kaylenn's turn to arch an eyebrow.  
  
"If you knew what my mom's job was, you'd understand and not think I was coming on to you."  
  
Kaylenn's face broke out into a grin, "What's your mom's job? And I didn't think you were hitting on me, but I just don't hear that my name is sexy."  
  
"I'll tell you what my mom works as later in our friendship, I gotta earn your trust. And it is sexy."  
  
"Your mom a stripper or something?"  
  
Zoe shrugged, "Like I told you, later."  
  
Kaylenn shook her head, "Whatever, so you know where this room is?"  
  
"Yeah, follow me."  
  
******  
  
DING-DONG!  
  
Gil raised his head, "Huh?"  
  
DING-DONG!  
  
"Hello, anybody home?!" A man yelled from the front door.  
  
Gil groaned as he got up and pulled on some pants, "Yeah, hold on!!!"  
  
He grabbed a shirt and struggled into it, he was going to kill who ever it was if they weren't important.  
  
He came to a stop at his door and ran a hand through his hair, trying to make the curls lay down for once. "Fat chance," he quietly told himself. He unlocked the door and opened it.  
  
There stood a Hispanic male, labored with bags, suit cases, and several boxes around him. "Hello, my name is Diego Rodriguez, I'm a friend of Kaylenn's family. The adoption agency told me that Kaylenn would be ready now for her stuff."  
  
Gil cocked his head and said, "I didn't know about this . . ."  
  
Diego looked down and bit his lip, "Kaylenn probably forgot it would be today, is she here?"  
  
"No, she's at school."  
  
"No wonder she forgot, she forgets everything on the first day."  
  
"How'd you know it was the first day?" An arched eyebrow greeted Diego.  
  
"My oldest son, it's his first day of second."  
  
"Oldest? You couldn't be very much over twenty-six."  
  
"I got my girlfriend pregnant at eight-teen, when she broke up with me and said she didn't want him, I took him."  
  
Gil nodded sadly, "Sorry."  
  
Diego shrugged, "Don't worry about it, it was one of the best choices in my life, and now I'm happily married."  
  
Gil pushed off from the wall, which he had been leaning against and pushed open the door, "Come on in." He grabbed a couple of bags and all but dragged them into the living room.  
  
Diego followed him and looked around, "You got a beautiful house." Gil nodded as he lifted up a particularly heavy box. Diego took in his appearance: hair sticking out in every direction, a roughly pulled on shirt, with a set of gray track pants, complete with bare feet. "Um, Sir?" Gil looked at him, "Did I wake you?"  
  
"Yeah, you did, but don't worry about it."  
  
"You work at night?"  
  
"Mmm . . . I'm surprised Kaylenn didn't tell you." Gil picked up the last box and brought it in. "Is that the last?"  
  
"No, there's still one more thing, I'll be right back."  
  
"You need any help?"  
  
Diego shook his head as he exited the house. Gil nodded to him self and flopped down onto the bed, he wanted to go back to bed so badly. And he thought he might be coming down with a migraine, second one this month.  
  
Then he heard the barking and whines. His head rose off the back of the couch slowly, just in time to see two huge German Shepards come padding into his house. One was completely black except for its white nose and star-shaped patch on its breast that was also white. The other one was littler, but not by much. It was also different shades of brown and silver, with black and white thrown in. The panic bells went off in Gil's head, and there was no doubt in his mind that what he had thought to be a migraine was.  
  
"Mr. Grissom, meet Nova and Star-Shadow." Diego's smile was wiped clean as he saw the look on Gil's face, "What's wrong?"  
  
"She didn't say she had dogs?!" Gil's voice was stressed and high pitched. "I can't have dogs in this house, and besides they're HUGE!!!"  
  
"Mr. Grissom calm down," his panic was starting to pass over to Diego.  
  
Gil was about to continue, when Catherine came strolling in, "Gil," she held out his name in thought and pointed to the door, "did you know you had you door open and what on earth are you yelling fo-" She caught sight of the dogs and Diego, "Oh, hello."  
  
"Hello? Hello?! He wants to bring dogs into my house!"  
  
Catherine couldn't help but give Diego a sympathetic smile, "Um . . ."  
  
"Diego," yelled Gil.  
  
"Diego, would you mind leaving and maybe coming back in a little while?" The man nodded his head wildly and gave the leashes to Catherine, and with that left.  
  
Catherine watched Gil clutching his head and mumbling, the man could get worked up about nothing. She sat down beside him and rubbed his back with a hand. "Gil, look at me." He looked at her, his eyes were screwed up with pain and he was sweating slightly. "Hold on a sec, and lay down or something." She smiled and took his hand, "Come here."  
  
She dragged him up and pulled him to his room. She lead him through the door and sat him down on the bed, "Lay and I'll be right back."  
  
He lay back as he watched her disappear into his bathroom, then he heard the floorboards creak near his door. The dogs were slowly coming into the room, but stopped when his eyes met both of theirs. He gave them a look that could only be described as, 'Get out, I don't like you, and just get the fuck out!' Both dogs whined and ran down the hallway.  
  
"Did you just scare the dogs?" He smiled innocently at Catherine, who had a glass of water and pills in her hands. "Don't try the innocent shit with me, I learned a long time ago not to trust it."  
  
He took the offered glass and pills, "Thanks, how'd you know?"  
  
"That's the second one this month, and you now officially have a migraine when I'm around . . . Is this your way of subtly telling me something?"  
  
"If it is, then it's to tell you that I love you, cause you'll always be around to make the pain lessen or go away."  
  
Her breath quickened when he said those three words she yearn for him to mean in a different way. "Well, then I love you too, big boy." They both locked eyes quickly and then looked away just as fast. "I should sleep with you."  
  
His head flew towards her and she mentally slapped herself, she hadn't meant to say it, 'Quick Willows, an excuse would be nice!'  
  
A smile broke through onto his face, "What did you just say?" There was laughter in his eyes, and also . . . Passion?  
  
'Get a hold of yourself Willows, he's probably not even interested.'  
  
"Um . . . Not in a sexual way, unless you want to . . ."  
  
Gil's eyes twitched and he felt as though his mind was short-circuiting, 'She's just playing with you, old buddy.'  
  
Catherine's grinned widened as she saw his tick, maybe she still had that charm that all the woman in her family possessed. "I'm kidding Gil, no I mean like how we use too." She started to trace invisible patterns in to his bed sheet. "You know, when life got to tough and we both just needed comfort?"  
  
"Cath the last time we did, well look what hap-"  
  
She stopped him with a raised finger, "Please, you look worse than when I punched you and I've been having nightmares. I just need this and I know you do too."  
  
Gil thought about it for a moment and looked to be trying to say 'no', but a silent, "Yes," passed through his mouth. A small smile passed over her face.  
  
She raised her arms to take off her the light long-sleeved T-shirt she had been wearing. He raised his eyebrow at the sight of her in a tiny tank top. "Sorry, but I have to." She crossed over to his closet and pulled out a one of his dress-shirts, "You don't mind do you?"  
  
He silently shook his head, he wouldn't have been able to talk if he had wanted to; his mouth had gone dry. Though it went dryer at her next words, "If you want you can take off your shirt, I won't mind."  
  
As he watched her slip off her pants, he shook his head ruefully. "Suit your self." Now only dressed in panties and a tank top that cover practically nothing, she started to pull his shirt on. Damn the stripper in her, the tease! She walked slowly over to him, "You gonna sleep in pants or boxers?"  
  
"Box-" His voice cracked, he tried again, "Boxers."  
  
"Well?"  
  
He wasn't moving, "Oh yeah, go on and get in." He pulled back the covers.  
  
She climbed in and watched him shed his pants. Her heart rate double as he revealed long, muscular legs . . . They were also very tan. "When do you do tanning?"  
  
"I don't, I work outside a lot, when I have time . . . I also have a pool."  
  
She scooted over and awkwardly laid herself beside him. He looked at her and smiled, "I won't bite Catherine."  
  
She smiled and sprawled out by his frame; she laid her head on his chest and her hand on his belly. "I know you have a pool, but Lindsey doesn't come over that often to swim, and those are the only time I see you in shorts. I've just always wondered why you had a tan."  
  
"Why do you have a tan?" He traced his fingers lazily over her shoulder and down her arms; she shuddered slightly, causing him to smile sleepily. "You never go outside and I know that for a fact."  
  
She grinned at him through the faze of tiredness that had taken over their bodies quickly, "You know exactly what keeps me tan and sexy, tanning booths!"  
  
His eyelids were closed now, and a smile danced across his lips, "Sexy . . ."  
  
Gil's breathing deepened, and Catherine found her self falling into a haze of Gil, she snuggled into him and placed a gentle kiss to the underside of his neck, "I think you're pretty sexy too, hot stuff."  
  
************  
  
~~You give me strength~~  
  
~~You give me hope~~  
  
~~You give me someone to love someone to hold~~  
  
~~When I'm in your arms~~  
  
~~I need you to know~~  
  
~~I've never been~~  
  
~~I've never been this close~~  
  
"Close" by Westlife  
  
**************  
  
A/N: I hoped you enjoyed it. The next chap will focus more on Kaylenn than anything else. Though it will be still be a CSI fic in a way, and the CSI's will be mentioned. 


	10. 8th Period and a Misunderstanding

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, its been really crazy lately, with my b-day and my parents, Halloween, tests, getting ready for Thanksgiving, and just life in general! I hope you like it, it's kind of fast and I don't like how I wrote it, but I can't write the first of this chap any other way! Ok, thanks for the reviews, I love you guys so much, and this chap is dedicated to all of you!!!  
  
**********  
  
Kaylenn walked into her last period of the day, Forensics. She was so glad this class was offered here, since her school in San Antonio had been the only one who had had the class. Though she doubted that any of the friends she had made so far would be in this class, 'This school is filled with not very smart people'.  
  
She stopped when she finally registered that Phoebe was in one of the seats in the back. "Pheebs? I didn't know you had this class."  
  
She shrugged and said, "A lot of us got transferred to this class."  
  
"Us?"  
  
"Yeah, like, all of my friends got transferred or fought to be in this class."  
  
Kaylenn smiled as she sat down next to the blond. And waited to see who would walk in.  
  
A boy with blond-hair walked into the classroom and immediately sat in the first row, middle seat. Kaylenn turned to Phoebe, when she heard her groan. "Who's that?"  
  
"A good-looking, stuck-up, bastard."  
  
"Name?"  
  
Phoebe muttered, "David, and he'll tell you the rest." Her eyes got big as a punk walked in. "Alex!"  
  
The boy looked at the girls and smiled, Kaylenn noticed it was one of the boys she had met in Gil's neighborhood. "Hey babe," he kissed Phoebe on the lips, "sorry I couldn't pick you up." He turned to Kaylenn and held out his hand, "I remember you, from a week ago."  
  
"Yeah, that was me, your hair isn't orange anymore."  
  
He nodded, and pointed to his capped hair. "No, I dyed it its regular color; just added little character." He pulled off his bowler hat and revealed dark brown hair, with purple and blond highlights.  
  
Phoebe tussled his hair, "Honey, and you wonder why you're not popular."  
  
He smiled and caught site of somebody coming into the room, it was Zoe, "Yo Zoe, what up girl?"  
  
Zoe took one look at his hair and replied, "Nothing but I guess you finally found your masculinity."  
  
He frowned and they started to talk to one another after they hugged. Kaylenn leaned over to whisper something to Phoebe. "Pheebs? Why did she just say that?"  
  
"Zoe's always joked about his sexuality since we convinced my mom that he was gay so he could sleep over with us." She smiled. "He had his hair blue then, and this is the first time he's had his hair different colors and half-way decent."  
  
Zoe glanced toward to the girls and finally saw who they were. "Pheebs, and, uh, Kaylenn this class is going to kick some major ass if we get one small adjustment."  
  
Kaylenn gave them a puzzled look when the girls looked around her towards the door and Alex started counting on his watch, "Five, four, three, two, one . . ."  
  
They bell rang and both girls said, "Dammit!"  
  
"I thought he signed up for this class?"  
  
Alex turned to his girlfriend and responded casually, "He did, but the man always needs a damn minute buffer." All of a sudden a boy with auburn- brown hair was pushed into the class, or looked like he was pushed, he had tripped. "Good one Declan!"  
  
Declan turned to Alex and the girls, "I hate this school, I step on campus and start tripping over everything." He walked towards them and sat down in front of Kaylenn. "Hey girl." All he got was a blank look. "I cut my hair, it was in a ponytail, and I was with this fool." He pointed to Alex and it dawned on her.  
  
"I guess you were right when you said I would see in school, and I do like the hair now." It was long, but his bangs were now just long enough to hang over his eyes. The man just looked hot.  
  
Zoe summed up both boys, "Definitely keep the hair boys, though Alex, will you ever have normal hair?" He shook his head widely in her face, causing his hair to brush her face. Zoe backed away from it and frowned.  
  
All of a sudden both of the boy's eyes grew to be as big as saucers, and their jaws hit the floor. The girls looked toward the front and saw a very beautiful woman closing the door and walking over to the teacher's desk, she grabbed a binder off of it and leaned on it, while she started to write in the binder. She raised her eyes and sighed, "Good, a small class."  
  
She smiled and proceeded to introduce herself, "Ello, my name is Ms. Lily Ace, call me Lily or Ms. Ace. I see we have a small class this year, so I'm gonna seat you in the middle two rows." She crossed her legs, making her short skirt even shorter and causing Alex to make a squeaking noise. Phoebe hit him. "Ok, I'll call your name and you'll sit in the first desk then second, then third. Three to row."  
  
"Phoebe, David, Kayle- Is it Kaylenn or Kayleen?"  
  
"Kaylenn."  
  
"Ok. Um, Alex, Zoe, and finally Declan."  
  
They moved to their desks and faced the teacher, waiting for her to take the next step. "Ok, now I want you all to tell a little about yourself, any volunteers?"  
  
Alex raised his hand and stood up. He climbed up onto his desk and started speaking, "My name is Alex Kaine, I love movies, rock, video games, Las Vegas, my dogs, cats, snake, and iguana, and finally I love my girlfriend, "he pointed to the desk by his, "Phoebe." He bowed and sat down.  
  
Ms. Ace smiled and clapped, "Thanks Alex, for that."  
  
Kaylenn stood up next, "I'm wild, crazy and weird. I'm also a Texan so don't mess with me or I'll kick your ass."  
  
"You're Texan?" Ms. Ace questioned.  
  
"Yeah, I just moved here to live with my Uncle."  
  
Declan raised his hand, "Why do you live with your Uncle?"  
  
"My parents died over the summer and my Uncle is the only person in my family who can take care of me, or it was foster home."  
  
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Ms. Ace looked at her binder again and asked, "Kaylenn, your last name is Grissom, would your Uncle happen to be Gil Grissom?"  
  
"Yeah why?" Kaylenn deadpanned.  
  
David shot a look that could kill towards her and everybody else asked, "What?!"  
  
"Your Uncle is Gil Grissom, one of the best in his field, if not the best! He's my friggin HERO!" Alex stated as he jumped out of his chair. He looked at his girlfriend, who had a bemused smile on her face, "You KNEW didn't YOU!"  
  
She nodded, "Yeah, I met him on Thursday, he picked us up."  
  
Declan looked at Kaylenn and asked, "Hey, have you met the rest of the Grave Shift?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, they're really cool!"  
  
Mrs. Ace looked at her with bright eyes and questioned, "What are they like Kaylenn?"  
  
"Well," Kaylenn moved to sit on top of her desk, "Nick Stokes is really down to Earth and is really sweet, he's also really cute in person." Phoebe whistled. "Sara Sidle, she's pretty much a die-hard book-worm and is completely dedicated to her work . . . She's also down to Earth."  
  
"Yeah, she's also pretty damn hot." Alex smiled and winked at Declan, he just nodded.  
  
Kaylenn shook her head, "Warrick Brown, personally we don't get along but he's okay. He makes it up being incredibly sexy."  
  
Mrs. Ace raised her hand, "I second that." All the girls giggled, as the boys made gagging sounds.  
  
"Then there's Catherine Willows, when I first met her I thought she was a bitch cause she and my Uncle were getting into fight but she's probably the coolest and the funniest person there. She's just awesome!" Both boys wolf-whistled, and the girls rolled their eyes. "But my fav of the team is the new guy and former Lab Rat, Greg Sanders. He's great, he's wild, crazy with his hairstyles and shirts, and is just downright funny . . . Not to mention one fine and sexy guy! Thanks."  
  
All of the class, except for David, who hadn't done anything yet, clapped and whistled as she sat down in her chair. "Thank you, for that little insight, and please tell your Uncle 'Hi' for all of us and that we would welcome him and his shift any time." Kaylenn nodded and Mrs. Ace carried on at the sight of David's hand shooting into the air, "David, why don't you go next."  
  
Alex, Phoebe, Declan, and Zoe issued groans. Kaylenn didn't need a microscope to see how far their hate for him went. David stood up and with a snotty grin on his face said, "Hi, I too have a family member in CSI.'  
  
Kaylenn's mood started to sink as she remembered where she had seen that snotty grin before, "My name is David Ecklie," Ecklie eyes met Grissom eyes for another show-down, "there-fore my father is Conrad Ecklie."  
  
*****  
  
Gil opened his eyes slowly to find Catherine's looking into his from up above. "Hi Stranger, I've been poking you for the last fifteen minutes." Her face broke out into a full-fledged smile, "Now you have to make me breakfast since you made me do it, Buster."  
  
"Buster, eh?"  
  
Catherine could see his mouth starting to twitch with a smile. "Yeah, Buster, get me some grub . . . All this sleepin' has made me hungry."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"Mr. Grissom you have picked the wrong time to mess with me, since I am now a hungry Willows, now get up and get me food."  
  
A smile crept slowly over his face, "No."  
  
She leaned down, with her hands on his stomach and her mouth near his ear, causing her breath to graze him. He shuddered, "You leave me no choice."  
  
The hands on his sensitive stomach now turned into tickling mechanisms, attacking his nerve endings and throwing him into a laughing mass. When she thought she had broken him, he pounced and flipped them over to where he was on top and in prime position to attack, "GIL! Oh God! Stop, please, NO!!!"  
  
"Uncle, UNCLE!!!" He stopped and looked down at her. She was breathing hard and her face was pink with laughter, he figured he looked about the same.  
  
Giggles still erupted from them, when she finally opened her eyes to gaze at his. Both of them stopped giggling and probably stopped breathing too. Catherine reached up and ran a hand through his curly hair, which she the brought down to grasp collar and pulled his body closer and down upon hers. 'This is it, it's finally happening!' She thought as his lips hovered above hers by mere millimeters. His breath grazed upon her lips, he was driving her craz-  
  
"What the hell is going on in here?!"  
  
It was like a record scraping when Kaylenn's voice broke threw their bubble and caused them to jump apart. Actually Catherine pushed Gil off, causing him to fall of the bed, "SHIT!"  
  
"Kaylenn, we didn't hear you come in!" Catherine jumped out of Gil's bed and raced to the bathroom.  
  
Gil's head popped up from the other side of the bed, and Kaylenn's eyes met his, "Obviously, you guys were doing the nasty," and with that she left with a slam of his bedroom door.  
  
He heard Catherine knock something over and his forehead hit the bedspread, he was pretty sure his face was as red as Kaylenn's hair.  
  
***********  
  
~~You only have to smile and you knock me out,  
  
~~But I'm here on the floor,  
  
~~And I'm begging for more,  
  
~~Baby that's what love's about  
  
"When You Come Around" by Westlife  
  
******  
  
A/N: I hoped you liked it, and the next one is already here! Yeah! 


	11. Gil Cleans House, Kaylenn Helps

A/N: Sorry, I thought my beta had given me the beta'd version but she hadn't so that's what was with the no update, SORRY! Thanks for the reviews!  
  
**************  
  
Gil walked Catherine to the door and opened it for her. She turned slowly to him and said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you to sleep with me. Now Kaylenn probably thinks she can't trust you or thinks you don't trust her and-"  
  
He cut her off by placing a finger on her lips. "Good night Catherine, I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Tomorrow? I thought you were working."  
  
He shook his head, "No, you have shift." At her look, he asked her, "Aren't you the one who told me that I had to start spending more time at home, so I could take care of Kaylenn?"  
  
"Yeah, but-" He stopped her again.  
  
"Her and I had a conversation this morning, and it showed me how much she needs me, right now more than ever . . ."  
  
She smiled up at him, "You're a great father. Well ok, bye Gil, I'll see ya soon." She hugged him and the feeling of him hugging back made her heart soar to new heights. She pulled back and exited the house.  
  
He closed the door and turned to see Kaylenn, who looked amused, curious, loved and pissed off. Her facial expressions amazed him to no end. Blue- gray met blue-gray and said, "She used the wrong tense."  
  
He cocked an eyebrow and crossed over to the couch, "What?" He looked down at the huge dog stretched out on the leather and glared at it. It seemed to get the picture since it whimpered and skulked off into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey! That's my dog, you know, stop treating her like that!"  
  
"Sorry, I don't do dogs, so if you want to keep 'em, they're now outside dogs."  
  
She stuck her tongue at him, only for him to do the same, she rolled her eyes, "Fine, but not until you get to know them." At his nod, she continued, "Catherine, she said, 'you're a great dad' not 'you'll be a great dad'."  
  
"And?"  
  
"She's either hiding something or just says the wrong tenses regularly . . . But it's a proven fact that when someone says the wrong tense, it means they're hiding something." She smiled, "And I'm pretty sure English is her first language."  
  
Gil shook his head, what could Catherine be hiding from him at this moment in time? He shook his head and decided a change in subject would be appropriate right about now. "Would Spanish be you second language, since you've practically never left San Antonio?"  
  
She shook her head and laughed, "Me and Espanola do not mix, it's like oil and water." At his look, she added, "My thing is Latin, I love it and this is my fourth year learning it."  
  
"I took Latin, but then again, I already knew how to speak Spanish, and I'm fluent in Sign Language, which was all I needed to know back then."  
  
"Which reminds me, well, actually the oil and water thing I said . . . Guess who ruined an almost perfect day? Well, besides you doin' the nasty in front of me."  
  
He was about to retort but she was smiling playfully, so he dismissed the statement. "Who?"  
  
She held up her fingers and made a two, "I give you two guesses, and only one hint, maybe two if you're nice." She smiled sweetly and said, "His father and you are like oil and water. Don't mix."  
  
Gil's mind went back to a certain conversation with Catherine when she had said something similar to him. They had been talking about who should talk to Conrad Ecklie about a case involving Nick . . . "Conrad Ecklie's son is in one of your classes?"  
  
Kaylenn was taken a back by the harshness in the man's voice as he said the other man's name. "Yeah, he's a total geek too, and nasty." She grabbed a pillow from the couch and hugged it, "Talk about coldness too, his face looked like he hadn't had a true smile in his life."  
  
"Like father, like son."  
  
"Not always," Kaylenn offered a small smile, when Gil looked questioningly at her. "Come on Gil both sons hated the dad in our instance, though my dad always looked liked Grand-dad and I always thought they had a lot in common. But you were always the odd-ball of the family."  
  
"Your father might have been my brother, but he was also my half-brother."  
  
Kaylenn's eyes went wide, "That's why you don't look like dad or Grand-dad, you just look like Sammy Grand!"  
  
Gil's eyes brightened when his face broke into a smile, "Sammy Grand? You still call her that?"  
  
"Yep!"  
  
"Kay, I really don't want to go into our family history, so why don't we move you in and get the stuff out of your room?"  
  
The girl squealed, "Really?"  
  
Gil laughed at the sound and how she had been able to scrunch her body up, she had looked like a gerbil cleaning its face. "You know you look like a gerbil when you do that?"  
  
"That's what I've been told, so when do we start?"  
  
"Why don't we change and then start on your room?"  
  
She jumped off of the coffee table and ran to the guest-bathroom and then to her room. Gil shook his head; she could be so hyper at times.  
  
*****  
  
"WOW!!!"  
  
Around two hours later, they stood covered in dirt and sweat. They looked like they had been working with machinery rather than cleaning. Both Kaylenn and Gil had on jeans that had seen better days. While both of their shirts had gone through a massive color change. He had been wearing a white tank but it was now a dingy brown and gray on the belly and chest. And Kaylenn's, well hers had been a gray, but now it resembled more of a gray and black camouflage. And it also hadn't helped since they had decided to have a dust fight.  
  
But now after two hours of moving boxes and various pieces of furniture around, they had cleaned out her room. They had dusted, and wiped down things, so they were now airing out the room, making it easier to breathe with all the dust in the air. And had finished by vacuuming and cleaning the carpet. The place was spotless and now they were just standing there, looking at it.  
  
"I'll say it again Gil, WOW! I think we do good together!" She looked down at him where he was sitting with his back to the wall.  
  
He glanced up and smiled, "Now we get to do the other room!"  
  
Kaylenn looked to what she guessed as the Game Room and felt sick, she pointed to the mountains of dust covered boxes and furniture, "We have to clean up that? Why? I already feel like I work for a oil company or somethin! Why make it worse?!"  
  
"You told me that your friends want to come over and meet me right? And you asked me if the girls could spend the night, right?" She nodded and he continued, "Do you really want them to come up the stairs and see this room like this?"  
  
Kaylenn stared at the room and now saw it as an enemy of hers, "Good point." She moved to get a box down and dropped it, making a small dust cloud. "You know Gil? You are sooo lucky, I'm not allergic to this crap!"  
  
She turned to him, seeing him sitting there, she cleared her throat, "What?"  
  
Kaylenn sighed, "I'm not doing this all by myself!"  
  
*****  
  
About an hour later they were still going through boxes and had about six boxes and around seven and a half trash bags full of stuff to get rid of. Kaylenn was sitting on the ground near the opened window with a medium sized shoebox, while Gil was somewhere downstairs.  
  
She looked at the box and saw that it had written on it, 'All the Girls in Your Life'. She opened it and was greeted with the smiling faces of Gil and a beautiful, fiery, red-haired woman. And . . . Kaylenn's jaw dropped and she quickly went through the pictures to see if her eyes were seeing things. Every picture was pretty much the same except then she came to a different period in his life, and then she saw that a new woman was in his life. Kaylenn's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "HOLY SHIT!!!"  
  
Gil came running up the stairs and rounded the stair railing to see Kaylenn staring at some pictures. His stomach contracted sickly when he realized what those pictures had on them.  
  
"Kay?"  
  
"This is like finding out your parents watch porno! You know they're capable, but do you really want to know if they can?"  
  
"Kaylenn, look-"  
  
She leant back and looked up at him, "No, you gonna answer three questions, alright?"  
  
He sighed and nodded.  
  
"My first question is who is the girl," she pointed to the girl who was in the same picture with the person she had first freaked out about, "and secondly, why the hell are you being all friendly with Craprad Ecklie???"  
  
"Easy, the girl was his sister and we use to best friends until she died."  
  
She cocked an eyebrow and closed her eyes, "Oh . . . Sorry . . . How'd she die?"  
  
"We were all friends from college and we fought for transfers to Las Vegas so we could work together."  
  
"So you were all CSI 's?"  
  
He nodded slowly and continued, "Yeah, and everybody hated us. When I was with them, and accounting that I was wilder back then, I would play practical jokes and scare people. We were the terrible three, though it was always her fault, we wouldn't have ever done anything if it weren't for her."  
  
"What was her name?"  
  
"Cynthia, ah, and she was the moon and me and Conrad were the tide . . . She had us hooked on her. Her being my first love and her being his younger sister, by about four minutes."  
  
Kaylenn smiled, "So they were twins?" At his nod, she asked, "How'd she die?"  
  
"On a case . . ." He started to play with his shirt, "I was upstairs, she was on the first floor and he was in the basement." He eyes started to water. "All of a sudden, I heard a gun-shot and a scream fill the house, I pulled my gun and ran down stairs. The guy had already left and Cynthia was on the ground in a rapidly growing puddle of blood."  
  
"Where was Ecklie?"  
  
"The perp must've locked him in the basement, because he was yelling for someone to open the door and was banging on it. But my attention was on her." He took a shallow, raspy breath, "She died within minutes and Ecklie found us like that. Cynthia dead . . . In my arms. And he's blamed me ever since, while I hate him for blaming me and ruining a friendship when I needed one the most."  
  
Kaylenn got up and walked over to him, "Sounds like both of you needed each other." He grunted in response and she engulfed him a hug.  
  
'I've seem to be getting these a lot since my surgery.' Gil thought as he returned it gratefully, 'I'm becoming such a softy!'  
  
They pulled apart and he sighed, "Now your gonna ask me why I'm kissing your mom in that photo. Am I right?"  
  
"The thought had crossed my mind."  
  
"It's plain and simple, I dated your mother and then when she met your dad, they fell in love."  
  
Kaylenn arched that eyebrow again. "And you didn't have a problem with that?"  
  
He shook his head, "I was twenty-nine and I found a stripper." He shrugged, "We were both content on splitting, and if we hadn't, you'd probably be mine."  
  
"The horror!"  
  
She smirked at him and then her face changed to one of comprehension, Gil could have sworn he had seen the light bulb. "Catherine was the stripper!"  
  
Gil starting laughing, "Yeah, she was, and I how'd you know that?"  
  
"I am friends with Greg you know," she smiled crookedly, "he has a lot of dirt on y'all."  
  
He smirked, "He probably does, and you Texans with your y'all."  
  
She hit him on the shoulder, "Don't make fun of us Texans!"  
  
*****  
  
She looked over to where he was cooking the pizzas. "My God! Do you know how good that smells! I haven't had a home-made pizza in like forever . . ." She breathed in the smell, and exclaimed, "Ahhh!"  
  
Gil smirked at the sound and threw some cheese at her. "Hey, no fair! You have stuff to throw, I don't!"  
  
The smirked turned into a lop-sided smile, "I can't believe you like pineapple pizza too; no body that I know likes it."  
  
"Well, I can see Greg, Cath, and Sara liking this kinda pizza, but you?" She cocked an eyebrow, and then switched to the other one. "I never would have guessed."  
  
"I like being mysterious, but Sara?"  
  
"I can see that!" She grabbed the frame with the pictures of Catherine, Lindsey and him. "Sara seems like the kinda girl who likes to indulge herself in something exotic once in a while."  
  
"You know, you'd be good as a Forensic Profiler." He looked at her seriously, "You're great with figuring people out, knowing their feelings, what's going on in their heads, and most importantly, talking with them."  
  
"Really? What do you mean with the last one?"  
  
He took out the pizza and sat it down on the counter to cool. "I've talked more in the last week that you have been here, more than I have talked in the past year I think."  
  
"Wow! You really do need a life!" He shook his head and laughed lightly. "Hey, who's this little girl?" She asked as she pointed to Lindsey.  
  
"Lindsey, Cat's 10 year-old girl."  
  
"She's beautiful, she's gonna be a real knock-out when she's in High School."  
  
"Yeah, she will be . . . I guess I just have to watch her." He looked at Kaylenn and asked, "So what are you?"  
  
She glanced up at him, "What?"  
  
"Right now in High School, what are you?"  
  
"A shadow." He cocked his head. "I'm there, but I blend in. Occasionally, someone will finally notice me, just like sometimes you notice your shadow. It's always there but it never really crosses your mind a lot. I used to have friends in every group." She shrugged her shoulders, "But now I seem to have friends that are shadows along with me."  
  
"What were you?"  
  
He looked up quickly then lowered his eyes slightly then met hers, "A ghost . . ."  
  
************  
  
~~Yeah, oooh...  
  
~~We started as friends  
  
~~But something happened inside me  
  
~~Now I'm reading into everything 'Obvious' by Westlife  
  
************  
  
A/N: Hope you enjoyed, I'm already working on the next part. And I promise everyone will be back into play (ok, only the CSI gang). 


	12. Night of Hell

A/N: Sorry it took sooo long; it's just that I had to work out how the case was going to unfold. Everyone is in this chap! Even Archie and regrettably Hobbs *shrugs* sorry! Bobby D will make an appearance in the next chap. Besides that, here's your X-mas present!  
  
****************************  
  
"So what do you think of Kaylenn?"  
  
Nick spit into the sink and looked over to where Sara was laying on his bed. "She's cool, I like her and I like what she's doin' to Gris, he's a lot nicer."  
  
Sara nodded slowly and said, "Warrick doesn't like her."  
  
He washed out his mouth and cleaned off the toothbrush. ""Yeah, I know. Something to do with her pointing out he was wrong to Gris, and turning out she was right."  
  
"And him calling her 'Red'." She sat up and wrapped the covers around her naked frame. "I don't get what her problem is about that nickname."  
  
He unwrapped the towel around his waste, and grabbed his boxers, while putting them on, he replied, "Maybe she just doesn't like to be called that." She blinked. "Like Cath doesn't like to be called Cat unless it's by Gris or War."  
  
"Oh, you got a point."  
  
He pulled on his shirt and started to tuck it in. "I wish you were goin' too."  
  
She shrugged, "Gives me more time to sleep."  
  
Nick looked at her slowly, "Did I hear you say you want sleep more than work," he resumed attaching his gun to his belt, "am I dreamin'?"  
  
She smacked him lightly on the stomach and pulled him closer to where she sat on the bed by his belt-buckle. "Well, what can I say?" She pulled him down for a kiss, it started out sweet but then it picked up. Sara moaned as she was granted access to his tongue. They pulled apart a moment later breathless, "You're . . . well worth the . . . extra sleep . . ."  
  
He smiled, and kissed her lightly. "I'll see ya in a few hours, ok?" His accent was more pronounced.  
  
She smiled in return and lay down again. Sara watched him as he slid on his jacket and grabbed his wallet and badge, while exiting the room. "Bye Nick!"  
  
"Bye!!!" Was the last thing she heard before he exited the house.  
  
*****  
  
'Where the hell is that guy?' Warrick had walked down this hallway twice now, he stopped, or was the third time . . . There could be a fourth there too. He shook his head and stopped Archie who had just past him, "Buddy, have you seen Grissom?"  
  
Archie nodded and pointed toward DNA, "Yeah. He was with that really hot red-head, Catherine, and Greg."  
  
"Thanks, see yah around!"  
  
He left Archie and all but ran to DNA.  
  
*****  
  
"So, Greg?"  
  
"Mmm . . ." Greg didn't look up from whatever specimen he was looking at.  
  
Kaylenn hopped down from the counter she had been sitting on and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "I like you . . ."  
  
Greg nodded, not fully comprehending what she said. Though when he realized how close she was to him, he jumped out of his chair, and grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the lab.  
  
*****  
  
Warrick stepped into the DNA lab to find that it was empty, "Shit!" He saw Hodges look up and yelled to him, "Have you seen Grissom?"  
  
Hodges shook his head, he knew the darker man was mad and he wasn't looking to get yelled at.  
  
Warrick rolled his eyes a bit; this was the day of hell for him. First Kaylenn, his fist clenched a bit at the thought of her, had again pointed out something he should have seen first. And besides she had no right to be on the case, no matter who the hell her Uncle was. She was a civilian . . . She was a civilian who knew more about his job than he did.  
  
And now, because of her, he had found a fucking clue and no one was around! He decided to try a hunch. He dialed Catherine's cell.  
  
*****  
  
Greg finally stopped in front of the dumpster behind CSI and let go of Kaylenn. "Hey! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"  
  
Greg turned to her and looked into her eyes, "You like me?! Do you know how much older I am?"  
  
"I guess not old enough to not notice me." He looked taken a back, so she went on, "Yeah Greg, I've notice you looking me up and down, how you stare at me constantly, how you constantly sneak glances at me when my Uncle's around, how you always have to come up with little ways of touching me!" She looked up and threw her arms in the air. "Hell! I thought you'd be thrilled but-"  
  
"I am . . ."  
  
"if age really mat-" she stopped suddenly and looked at him, "what?"  
  
"I'm glad that you like me, but it could never work out!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You know why!"  
  
"Because I'm 16 going on 17 in a month, and your 27?"  
  
"Yes!" He started to look panicked, "That's fuckin' 10 years in age difference! I could go to jail!"  
  
"That's not it and you know it!" She poked him in chest.  
  
"That is it Kaylenn! I don't want to got to jail!" He brushed past her and started walking back inside.  
  
"You're afraid of my Uncle! Of Gil, you're afraid of him!" He stopped and she hoped he would turn around but he didn't. He just kept walking.  
  
When he had turned the corner, she kicked the dumpster. She was so angry with him, her uncle, and mostly at herself to notice the pain. "Good going Kaylenn, always have to get the last word don't ya . . ." She looked up at the sky and blinked. She felt a tear run down her face and her fist shot out to collide with the dumpster.  
  
"Ah fuck!" She flexed her hand a bit, "Jesus! That hurt . . ." She winced as she saw her knuckles start to swell. "Great how am I goin' to explain this to Gil," she started walking back inside, "let's see: 'Don't worry about it, I pictured your face when I did it!' or 'Don't worry, it only feels like someone took a jack hammer to it . . . How'd it happen . . . Well, see I pictured your face and Greg's on a dumpster!"  
  
"I don't think any of those will be good . . ."  
  
*****  
  
Warrick rushed out of the building and into CSI's parking lot. He had gotten a tip from Archie; that Gil had been in the parking lot. Warrick had wondered about that since the he knew the older man had no new case for the night. He glanced around the semi-filled parking lot and spotted Gil and-  
  
Oh, that's why he had come out side, Catherine had apparently gotten a case and Gil had had the need to show her off. Warrick stopped within a few cars distance so he would be able hear them. He didn't think of it as spying; Warrick felt his skin heat up, ok, maybe it was spying.  
  
"So how'd your day off go?" Catherine said from her leaning point on her car.  
  
He shrugged, "Me and Kaylenn found out a lot about each other and talk about things . . ." He placed a strand of hair behind her ear, "Some of those things I have no idea how she could remember."  
  
Catherine felt her skin heat up; it was maddening for her to be this close to him. "When was the last time you saw her?"  
  
He shrugged, "When she was about five," he quirked an eyebrow, "yeah, it was her fifth birthday."  
  
She smiled. "Then she probably remembers a lot of stuff, since kids do remember stuff from three and up."  
  
He looked at his watch and sighed, "You gotta go, before O'Riley gets cranky."  
  
"Ok, see-yah later," she squeezed his arm and he backed up to let her stand up from her leaning position. She got into the Tahoe and drove off.  
  
Gil started to walk back to building when he spotted Warrick walking towards him. "Warrick?"  
  
"I found something . . ."  
  
*****  
  
"It's a hair . . ." Gil raised his eyes from the microscope, "Without a skin tag, why is it so important?"  
  
"It's been treated." Warrick handed him a folder and Gil opened it.  
  
He read a little bit of it and his jaw fell, "Methane?" Warrick nodded. "Where'd you find it?"  
  
Gil followed him over to where the younger man had splayed out Miss Ryes' robe. "It was in one of her pockets, inside a hidden pocket."  
  
"A pocket within a pocket," Gil sucked on his glasses a bit, and then continued, "How'd you see it?"  
  
Warrick's smile faded and he looked down. "Kaylenn," was the mumbled reply.  
  
"Warrick, what is your problem with Kaylenn?"  
  
At those words, he snapped, "What the fuck do you mean, 'what's your problem?' my problem is her!" He pointed outside into the lab, where techs were now watching the scene unfold. "She's a civilian and you're letting her walk all over this case. She has no right to be working with us! I don't care if you're her uncle, she has no right telling me what I should be looking for or anyone else for that matter!"  
  
Gil looked at him with ice-cold eyes, and waited for Warrick to gain a bit of control. Then he got very close to Warrick's face and whispered in a deadly voice, "First all, she seems to be the only one who can get into his head, so instead of you butting heads with her, you should be worshiping her. Second of all, I know she's a civilian, and her involvement in this case has nothing to do with whom she's related to. Third of all, I am you ranking officer and you will never speak to me like that again." He took a breath calmly forced Warrick to meet his eyes, "And lastly, all you've managed to do is make yourself look like an incompetent in front of me and your peers. Now get back to work and settle this . . ."  
  
And with that he marched out into the lab, yelling, "Get back to work!"  
  
*****  
  
Gil entered his office a moment later and slammed his door closed. He walked over to the cough and collapsed on it, holding his head. He hadn't lost control of his feelings like that in a long time. He heard his chair squeaked and his flew up to see . . .  
  
Kaylenn, with and ice pack on her hand. "How'd you know there would be a hidden pocket in the jacket?"  
  
"She was into Methane," she shrugged, "or at least knew someone who did it."  
  
"How?"  
  
She looked down at her swollen hand and flexed it; she winced. "Methane users have a distinct odor, I smelt it on her jacket and figured she'd have a place to hide it." She took a deep breath, and Gil could hear the shuddering. "So I heard Warrick yell'n, I'm guessing he wasn't to thrilled 'bout me knowing where to look."  
  
Gil snorted, "To say the least . . ." He leaned back and cocked his head, "You guys have to work out your differences, some way."  
  
"He calls me 'Red'."  
  
"Yeah," Gil just stared up at the ceiling to ponder what that statement meant for his team and niece.  
  
*****  
  
Catherine walked into the rickety old shack and saw Nick leaning over two girls. They both looked to be about 17. "God, why is it always the young ones?"  
  
She shrugged at Nick's question, "Vulnerability, I guess."  
  
He nodded and resumed taking pictures of the two girls.  
  
One had been shot between the eyes at close rage and she had this look of terror on her face that made both of the Criminalists shudder. And the other had the back of her skull blown open from the way she had apparently put the gun in her mouth. "Looks like a Murder Suicide, doesn't it?"  
  
"Uh-huh," murmured Catherine as something caught her eye. She walked over to it and saw that it was a crinkled piece of typed paper. When she noticed what was on it, she yelled, "Nick, get Grissom on the phone!"  
  
He looked up at he and asked, "Why?"  
  
"He's back . . ." She said, as she picked up the paper.  
  
******************  
  
~~Now I'm caught in the tide~~  
  
~~Lost in the eyes of envy~~  
  
~~For whom it concerns~~  
  
~~Some never learn~~  
  
~~She lacerated me, exposing me piece by piece~~  
  
~~She saw a weakness in me, and used it against me~~  
  
~~She lacerated me~~  
  
'Lacerated' by Shinedown (shows how Warrick is feeling)  
  
*****************  
  
A/N: I hope you enjoyed, the next one I promise will be up, hell, maybe even tomorrow! 


	13. Meeting

A/N: Sooo, 6 months later I have a chap up and another one to go with it. Thanks for waiting. These were not hard to write but my comp kept crashing, depression kick in, school life suck balls, and family problems happened. But the summer is here now and I'll see if I can get back into writing now that I have a comp of my own. A/N 2: I know I said Bobby D. would be in this but he hasn't made it in, I promise though to work him in, in ch. 15. Enjoy!

* * *

Nick and Catherine walked into the lounge, where Sara and Gil were talking about the latest statistics in Forensic science. "It is not 80%! That number makes no sense Gris! Now 62% makes much more sense."  
  
"How the hell did you get 62%?"  
  
"It just makes sense," she smiled lightly at him. Nick and Catherine exchanged looks that seemed to say, 'they're back to normal'.  
  
"Hey," Nick said as he sat down next to Sara while Catherine took the seat next to Gil.  
  
Catherine looked around the room to emphasize her point, and said, "Sooo, where is everyone?" At Gil and Sara's clueless looks, "We gotta get them watches that work."  
  
"Sorry I'm late," Warrick strolled in and sat in the seat opposite of Gil. "Greg's right behind me."  
  
At that exact moment, Greg walked in and stopped suddenly at his notice of Gil's presence. He gulped visibly and audibly and sat down. Everyone turned to see Gil's reaction, which was only raised eyebrow. "Alright, since we're all here now, lets get started."  
  
He motioned for Warrick to present his little evidence, "Um ok, with the help of Kaylenn-"  
  
The cup that Greg was currently trying to pour water into slipped and poured its contents on to the lab tech's lap, "Dammit!" He looked around at everybody, whom were all staring back at him. He offered an embarrassed grin, "Oops . . ."  
  
He got up and went over to the sink to dry him self off with the towels. Warrick took a deep breath and shook his head, "Anyways, Kaylenn hinted that there might be hidden pockets within the victim, Caitlyn Rye's jacket. So I searched it, and found one that was hidden by cleverly put seams." He laid the pictures that he had taken down on the table for everyone to see.  
  
"What I found first was a hair and then-"  
  
Gil raised a finger, "Wait, you found something else?"  
  
Everyone stared at Warrick; he shuffled his feet. "Yes, I did, but that's not what I was getting to. I found that the hair was treated with Methane." Gil exchanged looks with Warrick, "And after that big shock, I found another pocket with a baggie that smelled of Weed." He took out a plastic bag with the baggie inside and showed them it. "And that's it."  
  
Gil nodded slowly and then glanced at Catherine, who in turn exchanged a look with Nick. Nick stood up and laid out photographs of their newest victims. "Ok, the vics are Rose Andrews and Jennifer Barkley. They both had their student I.D.'s witch showed them to be 16 going on 17, and they were both in Juniors at Las Vegas High." He sighed heavily, "Their parents have been notified."  
  
Catherine nodded, "When we found them it looked like Murder Suicide," she handed a bag to Gil, "but that was before we found this."  
  
Greg held up a finger, "It's 'Driven Under' by Seether, a pretty popular rock band."  
  
Sara took the lyrics that were handed to her and asked, "Were they Lesbians?"  
  
"No, both were bi," Nick shrugged, "their parents told us that, and that they had been dating for about month, before that just best friends coping with the fact that Jennifer had just broken up with a long time boyfriend."  
  
"Did it end badly?"  
  
"Nope, rather peacefully," Catherine's eye locked with Gil's, "but she was hurt by it."  
  
"Alright, so the guy likes to listen to music and likes to create a real life example of that song," Gil's eye roamed around the faces of his shift.  
  
"Or maybe he's rewriting, the way he thinks they should go." Nick smiled at Sara's idea and grasped her hand beneath the table. She looked at him and mouthed 'thanks'.  
  
Catherine had been whispering to Warrick and was ready to voice their opinion about the Lyrical Killer. "What if he's actually taking out his anger toward someone who is embodied by these victims? Someone who hurt him and probably listens to these songs."  
  
"I mean think of it, all of the victims have been young woman, and three of them have been 16, Caitlyn was 20, but we also think she was the first." Warrick took a moment for this to sink in. "His M.O. is killing young women who are 16, almost 17, while using this person's song, so that in his mind he's killing her."  
  
Everyone stared at the two, until Greg spoke. "Well, there you go." He messed his hair up a bit more and then said, "Kaylenn fits that description."  
  
"What description?" They all jumped when the before mentioned entered the lounge, obviously looking for something to eat.  
  
Greg shrugged, still a little uneasy around her, something Gil was starting to notice. "You, 16 almost 17 . . . you know Seether's 'Driven Under'?"  
  
"Kick song, bud." ] "You know all the songs so far, the only thing you don't have in common with them is your lack of-" He stopped and mumbled, "Never mind . . ."  
  
Gil choked on his coffee as what Greg had almost said occurred to him, and glared at him. Kaylenn stared at her Uncle, "Because I don't have parents, you can say it."  
  
There was an awkward silence until Sara and Nick glanced at each other. Sara arched an eyebrow and he nodded, "Nick and I have, um, some work to go through."  
  
"Yeah, we'll interview the ex-boyfriend."  
  
They both got up and left, Catherine noticed that their hands were clasped together. She noted that nobody had seemed to notice.  
  
Warrick sighed, "Kaylenn, you wanna get something to eat before I take you home?"  
  
Catherine, Greg, and Kaylenn all gawked at him, causing him to say quickly, "It's my turn to get food, and I thought I'd take you home while I'm doing it, save Gris the trouble." Gil mouthed a silent thank you and smiled at Kaylenn's nod. "Alright meet out by my Tahoe in 10." And with that he exited the room.  
  
Kaylenn walked over to Gil and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "See-ya latrz Big-G!" Greg's eyes followed her as she sauntered to the door. "You need any help Kay?" She nodded at him and waited for him to join her at the door, which they went though.  
  
Gil's eyebrow arched though when he saw Greg's hand rested on the small of his niece's back and then two fingers dip into her back pocket. Catherine's eyes met his and he asked, "Did you see that?"  
  
"Yep," she sighed and sat a little straighter, "seems like love is going through the air in this lab and we're missing out."  
  
"Oh the horror!" She laughed at his mocking tone, but he couldn't help thinking, 'You're wrong Cath, I've been playing the game far too long.'  
  
"But the point is Cath 1) she's my baby niece and 2) he copped a feel, as you would say, and he didn't get slapped."  
  
"I wouldn't care."  
  
Gil's head flew to the side to look her dead on. "Are you saying you wouldn't break Greg's fingers if he tried to put his hand in your pocket?"  
  
She raised herself out of the chair slowly, leaning into him, she whispered, "I didn't mean his hand Gil . . ." She leaned back, "I want to go out for our anniversary in a month." She started for the door, making sure he followed every movement. "We haven't done anything in the longest time."  
  
Before she closed the door, she threw, "Pamper me," over her shoulder.

* * *

_You look distorted  
Lets make you clearer  
Lets flip the switch and use the smoke and mirrors  
_  
'Crying Out' by Shinedown

* * *

A/N: All righty then, ch.14 is up and ready for viewing pleasure.


	14. Thinking, Talking, and Revelations

A/N: Someone new is in this chap and sorry guys, still no Bobby D. But I do have some ideas on him in the next chap. Meanwhile, this chap takes place around a week or two after the last one.

* * *

Kaylenn walked into Gil's vacant bedroom. She climbed into his bed and buried her head in his pillows. After breathing in his soothing scent, she looked up at his alarm clock, 3:37 AM. She sighed and sat up. "Nova, Star- Shadow?"  
  
The two German Shepherds came strolling in and Star-Shadow jumped up into the bed, while Nova whined to be let up. Kaylenn smiled and patted the bed, the dog barked as she jumped up onto Gil's sheets. When she heard the growls emitting from the other dog, Kaylenn snapped, "Don't start Star!"  
  
The redhead smirked at the reproachful look that crossed over the black face. "I decide who's in this bed right now." The girl laid down between the big dogs and laid her head on Nova's stomach, thinking of the last month and half of her life.  
  
She smiled at the thought of first meeting Brass and telling him to lick her. That had been the moment of bonding for them, since most people didn't stand up to him. Actually that whole day had been like that. She had been fiery, something she seem to be losing.  
  
This place was changing her and she could tell. Her defenses weren't up to strength and this city kept throwing things at her that kept lowering them. Actually her whole life had been turned upside down in the last three and half months, and it kept getting worse.  
  
First her parents dying, one piece of news she didn't need, being moved from her home, city, and state, being thrust upon her Uncle, being a burden to Warrick and probably to her Uncle, and then the icing on top was falling in love with Greg. 'Ok, maybe not love but pretty fucking close to it, I'm just not ready to love again right now.'  
  
At that thought, memories of a bad past resurfaced, the memories that plagued most of her nightmares. What would Gil say or even think if he knew of what those nightmares held, of why her parents and her hadn't had the greatest relationship? "Probably disown your ass," she sighed, shaking her head.  
  
She sat up slowly; she was starting to get a panic attack at these memories. She looked around the room uneasily, she needed to get away from this room, from enclosed spaces, and she needed fresh air. She was suffocating in the staleness of the house.  
  
Kaylenn ran into the living room, both dogs on her tail, sensing that something was wrong with their human. She went to the front door and slid on some shoes before exiting the house in a hurry. The crisp cold of the desert night hit her heated, sweaty skin like a welcome bath.  
  
Kaylenn stood there and willed herself to calm down; this was one of the worst attacks ever. As her nerves started to settle, she started walking. Her mind wasn't thinking of the dangers of this, especially when there was a serial killer who preyed on young girls exactly like her, no her mind was blank, a black void. Kaylenn just walked and really didn't give a shit about what could happen, just that she needed this.  
  
------------

Catherine walked into the lab and found Greg staring at the ceiling, a haunting song playing on his jukebox. She frowned, where was the Static X or Rancid or Disturbed. "Hey Greg, you ok?"  
  
He looked at her and said, "I had Kaylenn burn me a CD of all the songs that killer had used so far, and asked her to add a few of what she thought he could use in the future."  
  
"I didn't know this song was bad." Catherine cocked and eyebrow as she recognized the song as Shawn Colvin's 'Sonny Came Home'.  
  
Greg shook his head. "That's what I said, but Kaylenn told me that's what she thought too a while ago, but the song is actually about this chick Sonny, who comes home and starts planning on taking back her life." Catherine nodded, following what he was saying. "Any-hoo, her big plan is bringing these children and some other people into her old house and burning them alive, which is what she does." At her shocked and slightly appalled expression, Greg smiled slightly, "That was my look exactly, we've been singing to this song forever and never knew a thing about it, but she does burn them and she has no guilt for it."  
  
Catherine closed her mouth slightly, "Well, Kaylenn certainly has a taste in music," she took a breath, "she's not normal is she?"  
  
Greg nodded slowly, "You have no idea! She is one chica who is not afraid to toy with the darker side of her being or morbidness of life."  
  
She smiled uneasily and changed the subject, "Where's Gil?"  
  
"Uh," Greg bit his lip slightly, "in his office I think. He went in there about the same time shift started."  
  
She nodded and bid a goodbye to Greg.  
  
--------------

Kaylenn turned the corner of the street and felt a hand grab her shoulder. She screamed and turned around. "Fuck me Declan!"  
  
Declan was standing in front of her, trying to hold back his laughter, but it was hard since her face had been priceless. "Sorry, I didn't mean it, I had been calling out your name." His smile was wiped clean when he saw tears were starting to form in her eyes. He cupped her face, "You alright? I really am sorry . . ."  
  
She sniffed, "I thought I was gonna be killed you asshole!"  
  
"Well, it's good to know your sense of sassy isn't lost."  
  
"You wanna walk me home?" Kaylenn asked trying to change the subject.  
  
Declan stared at her. She was biting her lip, and hugging her shivering frame. "Yeah," he whispered as he took off his coat and handed it to her, "here, put this on, you're startin' to remind me of Chihuahua."  
  
She laughed and slid on the offered jacket. All of a sudden her senses were filled with the smell of Old Spice and Declan's own scent; these smells caused a reaction in Kaylenn that made her face flush. "You're blushing."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
He grinned at her, "Ok, since you're feeling a little calmer, do you mind actually if we head towards the park, instead your house, I left Zoë there."  
  
"Zoë?" Kaylenn's heart fell, were they going out?  
  
"Yeah, she snuck out to meet her boy toy of the month and I decided to follow her to make sure she would be ok."  
  
"You're not going out?"  
  
He grimaced, "Uh, no." They turned to head toward the park. "That would be like dating your sister."  
  
Kaylenn looked at him, "Your that close?"  
  
He nodded, "Yeah, I'm her adopted, unofficial, brother."  
  
"Unofficial?"  
  
"My parents gave me up when I was born and I grew up in foster families or orphanages, until I just sort of ran away from it all." He took a deep breath. "Zo's mom had known the last family I had been with and when I ran away decided to take me in." He threw up his arms, "And now I'm part of Zo's fucked up family!"  
  
Kaylenn giggled a bit at that and wondered, whether Zo's family was all that it was cracked up to be. "Well, you turned out all right." They smiled at each other until they reached the swing set in the park.  
  
"So how long do these rendezvous usually take?" Kaylenn sat herself on the edge of the slide and laid back, while he sat on the side of it and anchored himself by entwining his leg with hers.  
  
"As long as the make-out session lasts." He glanced at her and asked, "Why were you out by yourself anyways, know with the killer at large?"  
  
"I had a panic attack and kinda ran out of the house and just started walking. It's, uh, a habit." He looked at her strangely. "I did it in San Antonio, so it didn't really occur to me not to do it here at the time." She shivered and he cocked an eyebrow. "I also have a bad feeling about these killings, which kinda started the panic attacks."  
  
"Why don't you tell your Uncle?"  
  
"It's just a gut feeling."  
  
He squinted his eyes, "And this comes from the girl who 90% of the time gets the cases solved in class by hunches."  
  
"Yeah, but that leaves a huge 10% margin of error."  
  
He shrugged and inched closer, "Whelp, I always say go with your instincts."  
  
"And what if your instincts are telling you to go for two different things?"  
  
"Then I say," his lips were almost touching hers, "experiment . . ." As his lips caressed hers, a voice interrupted them.  
  
"Looks like I wasn't the only one who was getting some lip action." Zoë stood there looking a bit harassed.  
  
Declan put a little distance between he and Kaylenn but still didn't move away from her. Kaylenn, though, had her neck at an odd angle trying to see more of Zoë, since Declan's arm around her was making it hard sit up. "What happened to you?"  
  
Kaylenn heard her snort, "Oh nothing, just an asshole that thought the third date was the charm he needed to get into these Levis."  
  
Declan and Kaylenn traded a look, and Kaylenn asked quickly, "You alright?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine, disappointed . . ." She walked over to the slide and looked down at Kaylenn, "He was a major hotty."  
  
Declan finally moved aside and Kaylenn sat up, "Though it looks like my Levis weren't the only ones who were coming off."  
  
"Zoë, lick me."  
  
"Gladly babe," she turned to an amused Declan, "c'mon stud, we gotta get home." She turned to Kaylenn, who looked slightly disappointed, "Wanna spend the night? Mom won't mind."  
  
Kaylenn thought about it. Along as she's home by 8:00 AM, she wouldn't get caught, and plus it was Friday. She grinned at them, "There enough room?"  
  
"Fuck yeah!" Came the reply from both Zoë and Declan.  
  
----------------

The only thing that had been on her mind for the last few minutes had been whether or not wake him up by calling his name or by pushing him back in that chair and straddling those hips of his. Catherine settled for the first one, the latter might leave her a lawsuit or some explanations; neither were an option.  
  
Though at the same time she didn't want to wake him.  
  
Gil was currently asleep at his desk. His hand still held the pen and his head had obviously slid off his palm and down his forearm. He was so cute and looked so peaceful but she knew he would have the most God-awful kinks if she didn't wake him now.  
  
She walked over to him and leaned down to his ear as not to startle him like a week ago. "Gil, honey, wake-up . . . C'mon Gil."  
  
He grunted and his eyes opened slowly trying to focus on his surroundings. "Cath?" He voice was filled with sleep, and she ran a hand through his slightly ruffled curls.  
  
"Hey Sleepy." He raised his head and looked around the room lazily. "Why haven't you gone home, isn't this your fourth shift or is this still your third?"  
  
"Work . . ." His voice was raspy with sleep as he looked blankly around his desk as if searching for something.  
  
"That's it mister, your going home or at least to my house, since it's closer."  
  
He rubbed his face, "Nah, I'm fine, I just need to wake-up."  
  
"No, what you need to do is go to sleep," she looked at his appearance, he hadn't shaved and there were bags under his eyes, his clothes were also wrinkled, "or at least get cleaned up."  
  
He shook his head, "No, so where are we in the case?"  
  
"Same place we were in when you fell asleep."  
  
He gave her a look that said 'don't start with me Catherine', "So, in that case, nothing."  
  
"Yep." She sat on the corner of his desk and again took in his appearance. "Did you even go home?"  
  
"No," at her look he held up a hand, "and don't worry about Kaylenn, she's fine. I called her at the beginning of shift-"  
  
"Which is your fourth."  
  
"- And she's fine but pissed off that I missed movie night." She raised her eyebrows. "It's a thing we do every Friday before shift, we watch a movie . . ."  
  
She noticed his look, "What?"  
  
"They've all been with William Petersen." She burst out laughing, "What?"  
  
"He's gorgeous!"  
  
"That's what she said."  
  
"Though he does look a lot like you."  
  
His eyes grew a bit at that, "Are you saying I'm gorgeous?"  
  
"Maybe I am," Catherine sounded a lot braver than she was feeling. "But the truth was I didn't even think about Kaylenn, I'm worried about you pulling more than double shifts. You know that when you go on your third you start getting sloppy, and now there's no way of telling how sloppy you are."  
  
"Are you making fun of me?" He watched, as she didn't answer him and how her hips swayed as she walked to his door and opened it.  
  
"You have fifteen till everyone gets here, so get cleaned up." She walk outside and almost closed the door, but she popped her head back in. "You know you're gorgeous."  
  
---------------------

When the group walked up to the house, the Goth-ness of it took Kaylenn aback. It looked like a mini-castle, something that really didn't fit with neighbors, which looked like normal houses.  
  
"Wow?" Zoë and Declan grinned each other as she stared at it, "You guys live here?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
Zoë took Kaylenn's hand and started to lead her behind the mini-castle, she also noticed there was no fence. "Where the-"  
  
Kaylenn's eye grew wide as she saw a two-story house with a fence around it, "This where we live Kaylenn, and you have dogs right?"  
  
The red head nodded at Declan, who opened the gate and let to the girls go first. All of a sudden Pit Bull and a German Shepard bounded at them. "Stop! Sit!" Both dogs sniffed at Kaylenn's shoes and sat down in front of them at Zo's command. She pointed to the Pitt Bull, who was a lush red almost, "She's Ginger, mine, and this big gallute," she pointed to the black and silver German Shepard, "is Bale-Wolfe, Wolfe for short, and he's Declan's."  
  
"Kick ass dogs y'all." She petted them both as they licked her hands, arms, and face. "They're playful."  
  
"Yep," Zoë started walking toward the front door. "And we have four other beasts inside."  
  
"You have six dogs!"  
  
Declan shook his head, making his brown locks disheveled even more, "Nope, more like half and half."  
  
They walked inside letting both dogs come in, while a small beagle came running and jumped into Zoë awaiting arms. Kaylenn laughed even though she did noticed that she could smell urine; Zoë seemed to notice too, "Hey D, could yah?" Kaylenn watched as he disappeared into what seemed like the hallway to the kitchen. "And this little munchkin," the dog wiggled a bit, "is my baby Rose."  
  
"Hey Rose!" The beagle licked Kaylenn's hand as she petted it.  
  
"Sorry about that Kay." Declan had come back and Kaylenn noticed the smell of urine had disappeared. "Rose here stays inside while we're gone so we put some stuff down so she can go if she wants, and that's what you were smelling."  
  
"You want the tour?" Kaylenn nodded at Zoë, "All righty, let the tour commence!"  
  
Declan pointed to their surroundings, "This is the living room." It had blue-gray carpet, white, leather couches and a la-z-boy. The room was painted a baby blue and it had heavy white curtains. The room then lead to a separate room though an arch, they walked into the room and it was filled to the max with a pool table, bean-bags, a royal purple couch, a T.V. with game stations hooked up to it and a desk with a computer. "And this is the game room as you can tell."  
  
"Down that hallway," she pointed down the hallway, which Declan had disappeared, "is the kitchen, guest room, bathroom and dining room . . . and Mom's room." They walked to the stairs that lead up to the second floor in the living room and walked up them. "The second floor consists of my stuff."  
  
"While the attic is all mine."  
  
Kaylenn stared at them, "You guys get a floor?"  
  
They both nodded and Zoë pointed to another living room, with blood-red walls, black carpet, and two black leather couches. It was very dark but Kaylenn liked it. "This is my living room, the guest room is on the other side of the stairs, my office space is down that hallway and my room is at the end with my own toilet."  
  
"I have exactly the same shit upstairs, except my color scheme is different and my living room is more like a damn game room."  
  
"What's color scheme?"  
  
"Black walls, with yellow sponged over it, midnight blue carpet and very loud yellow and very mellow blue furniture."  
  
"His life is brighter than mine I guess," Kaylenn laughed at the remark. "Which one do like better?"  
  
"I love both but he gets brownie points for the yellow."  
  
"Kiss ass."  
  
Declan and Kaylenn smiled at each other as they headed back downstairs. Zoë called after them, "Hey Kay, I'm gonna call my mom, to tell her that your staying over and to call your Uncle just in case alright?"  
  
Kaylenn thought about it, "Yeah that sounds good."  
  
"C'mon Kaylenn, lets get something to eat I'm starvin'," Declan took her hand and lead her to the kitchen.  
  
Zoë however walked to an intercom that was in the game room and punched a button and spoke into it. "Mom? Mom, you there?"  
  
Zoë waited a moment and then her mom's silken voice drifted over the COM. "Yes, Zoë?"  
  
"Me and D's friend Kaylenn is staying over that ok Mamamia?"  
  
"Yeah baby, it's fine," a scream echoed though the com, "do you want me to call her par-, no wait this is the one who lives with her Uncle right?"  
  
"Yeah she's that one," Zoë paused as she looked for Kaylenn's number in the Rolodex. "You sound tired, everything alright?"  
  
"Just a busy night Zoë, you know how it gets," her mom laughed, as another scream echoed, "though everyone's happy."  
  
Zoë giggled at that, "I can hear, here's the number mom . . ."  
  
--------------------

"Is your phone vibrating Gil?" Catherine looked at him as he opened to the break room where everyone was assembled, "Or do you do tricks I don't know about?"  
  
Sara choked on her coffee, Greg and Nick shared a look and burst laughing, while Warrick just leaned against the sink and smiled. "Ha, ha Cat." Gil reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, 'Why is it in my pants pocket?' "Grissom."  
  
"Gil?"  
  
Gil's heart stopped at that silken voice, memories of that voice screaming his name in passion came back to him. All vivid. Aware of his colleague's stares and that Catherine was mouthing 'what's wrong', he shook his head, "Lady Heather."

* * *

_Whoa, in the shadows of our life  
We can fall into the night unscarred   
Whoa, in the shadows of our life   
We can never let it go this far  
  
Somehow my words are rendered useless   
Still I pull my lip down to my chest   
Just to show you how my jaw is  
_  
'In the Shadows' by Story of the Year

* * *

A/N: Ok, so there. I hope you enjoyed, please review and again sorry for the 6 months.


	15. A Break in Love and in Crime

A/N: Sorry it took so long, but at least it wasn't 6 months this time. And as promised to you Bobby D is in this chap. Enjoy!

_

* * *

_

_Previously on 'Clueless'_

_"Grissom."_

_"Gil?"_

_Gil's heart stopped at that silken voice, memories of that voice screaming his name in passion came back to him. All very vivid. Aware of his colleague's stares and that Catherine was mouthing 'what's wrong', he shook his head, "Lady Heather." _

_--------------------------_

At the sound of that familiar name, all eyes snapped to their supervisor and the phone in his hand. While Brass hid his smile behind a coffee cup, he thought that Gil's voice breaking a bit at the name had been quite funny.

Meanwhile his friend cleared his voice, "Lady Heather, what do I owe the pleasure of talking with you?"

"Your niece, Kaylenn, wants to stay over at my house tonight, and I was just calling to make sure that was okay. Given my history and . . . Ours."

Catherine looked raised an eyebrow, and he knew it was from the blush creeping onto his face, and to places he was quite sure couldn't blush. He shook his head as if to clear it. "Kaylenn's at your house?"

"Yes," a scream interrupted her, "my daughter Zoë and foster son are in her class at school. I've heard a lot about Kaylenn from them."

Gil was trying desperately to latch onto some shred of normalcy, if this situation had any; it was all too surreal for him. "You have a foster son?"

"Yes, and I can assure he is a perfect gentleman but I can see where you wouldn't like that aspect of her sleeping over here."

"Um, actually I don't have a problem with that _aspect," _he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm worried about the environment."

The line was filled with the rich silk of her laugh, and Gil couldn't stop from smiling in return. "Yes, I can see how that could be a problem but it isn't. My work place is not my home."

Gil's eyes grew big, "I thought it was."

"My home is behind my work, they're different buildings Gil."

"Oh well, then, uh, I guess it's alright with me then. I'm going to leave at about 9:00 or so, can I pick her at up then, say at 9:30, 10:00?"

"Of course, I'll have her up by then, just walk around the establishment and you'll see it."

"Ok, see you then."

"Bye Gil."

And with that he hung up the phone.

------------------------

"So, you're not mad?"

Gil looked into the teen's blue-eyes and sighed, "No, I'm not, I just." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "I just wish that I didn't have a niece who was hanging around Lady Heather's place."

"Who you boffed."

"I did not!"

Kaylenn slid off the bar stool and walked towards the bathroom. "You boffed her, you were way too nervous to just be friends." She turned to him and shrugged, "Face it Bucko, yah bucked her."

He watched her disappear into the restroom, and then heard her going up the stairs. "How does she do that?"

------------------------

(((ONE MONTH LATER)))

"How do you do that?"

Kaylenn looked up at her Forensics teacher. "Do what?"

"Profiling, how do you do it?"

"I dunno, I just know I kick ass, major ass, when it comes to it."

Lily raised her eyebrows, "You're awfully humble."

Kaylenn sat back, "Only when I know I'm good."

"Though you seem to be slacking in other areas."

"I know," Kaylenn raised her hands, to gesture towards the room, "why do you think I'm spending a perfectly good Friday afternoon in here for tutoring?"

Her teacher smirked at her, "You and Alex are lucky that I'm as young as I am because if I wasn't you smart-asses would be laughing it up in detention."

Kaylenn's bottom lip became more pronounced as she pouted, "I'm hurt."

"Whatever, Kay."

--------------------------

Warrick was pissed off. He didn't know why he had agreed to pick up Kaylenn from tutoring today. Granted she had asked him politely and he had accepted, but why?! It was a Friday and he had a date to get to in an hour. He still had million things to do before then and time was being wasted on her, whom he still held a grudge against, which pissed him off further.

'At least she only visits on Saturdays now.' Warrick pulled up to the school and got out of the Tahoe grumbling about how stupid he felt because of how he could become unhinged at the very mention of this teenager's name. But then again, she appeared to be getting used to him calling her Red, which she still seemed to hate, therefore he still used.

But they hadn't gotten into a fight in an around two weeks, and that had helped their relationship immensely. He guessed enough for her to call him up and ask for a ride and enough for him to say yes even though he had plans.

As he rounded the corner of the hallway near her classroom, he heard the younger Grissom's voice. "Lily, you need a boyfriend."

'Always butting into other people's busin-' Thoughts ceased in Warrick's mind as he entered the room and saw the most beautiful woman . . . Ever.

Lily felt eyes on her and lifted hers to meet-

"Holy Shit!"

"What?" Kaylenn raised an eyebrow, "Oh you, um, yeah."

Warrick dismissed her, "I'm Warrick Brown."

"I know," Lily took his outstretched hand and had to hold back a gasp as a shock went through her, "I've seen you on TV, Mr. Brown."

"Warrick, and you are?"

"Lily Ace, Kaylenn's forensics teacher."

'Gorgeous and smart.' Warrick looked her up and down; fully aware of what he felt when they had shaken hands. But then his attention turned to Kaylenn, who was packing her stuff up, "You ready?" She nodded her head. "Well, nice meeting you, come on Kaylenn."

Noticing that the two older people had some chemistry, Kaylenn nodded and left quickly, leavingWarrick alone in the room with Lily.

"Um, yeah, Goodbye."

Lily frowned; she was not going to let him leave just yet. She was drawn to him, and the fact that he was gorgeous and moderately famous had little to do with it, there was just something about him. "Warrick?"

The green-eyed man turned to her nervously. Why was he so nervous about being around a gorgeous woman? He was never nervous. "Mmm?"

She wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "There's my name, phone number, and address just in case you ever want to get together and talk about the latest in Forensics or _something_."

"I just might take you up on that." He smiled and turned to leave. He also reminded himself to thank Kaylenn.

--------------------------

Gil raised his head. "Kaylenn, get the door!" When the doorbell rang again, he rolled out of bed and threw on a pair of track pants and a t-shirt. "Kaylenn!" But it was no use, he was up and he could hear her music.

He left his room and padded to the door and opened it to reveal Declan and Zoë. "Hey Mr. Grissom." Declan said rather chirpily.

Gil let them in and grumbled something about Kaylenn being upstairs. "Thanks Mr. G."

"I'm leaving for work at 8 o'clock," he looked rather crossly at Declan, and both Zoë and Declan got the meaning.

They started toward the guest bathroom, where the stairs were but Zoë popped her head back into the hallway. "By the way, you look really good in that." And then she disappeared.

Gil rolled his eyes, he was too tired to be mad or embarrassed. Then the doorbell rang and he walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Gil!"

Catherine walked in and gave him a hug, which took him by surprise. "What are you doing here?"

She met his eyes sheepishly and said, "I dunno, just felt like visiting."

"Lindsey's at a friends?"

Catherine laughed as she nodded, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Your eyes," he brushed a strand of hair from her face. She looked away. "What?"

"It just feels weird to know someone who always knows what your feeling."

Gil thought about her and his' relationship. "Yeah, I guess it is." He led her into the kitchen, where he opened the fridge. "Beer, soda, milk, Orange Juice, or water?"

Catherine asked him to repeat his question; she had been too distracted by the way his butt looked. Dammit! She had not heard him again. He repeated it again and she asked, "What kind of soda?" She was stalling she knew, but his ass just looked so damn good in those pants.

"Um, coke, Dr. Pepper, and," he moved something, "Cream Soda."

"Mmm . . . I'll take a Cream Soda."

"Ok," he picked up is cell and dialed a number, she shot him a puzzled look, "wait."

-----------------------

Kaylenn looked up from her guitar as her cell was thrown to her, it was ringing. "Thanks Zo." She picked it up and answered it. "Ello?"

"Kaylenn? What the hell is that?"

The redhead rolled her eyes and reached across her bed and turned down the music a bit. "It's called Atreau, what'cha want bud?"

A smile spread over her face, she knew he hated that name, she could hear it in his voice, "Can you bring down a thing of Cream Soda?"

"Yeppers, be down in a min or two."

"Ok."

There was a click and she hung up. "Do you guys wanna go see a movie or something?"

"I thought we were gonna do that here." Declan asked not peeling his eyes from the massive collection of movies she had.

"I got to go give Gil something and I wanna get out."

Declan and Zoë shrugged and she asked, "Declan, isn't Alex supposed to skate today at that Skate Park?" He nodded. "Then let's go there, there's nothing good on the big screen till November anyways."

"Cool, then lets go."

Kaylenn turned off the stereo and her lights and quickly got a cold case of Cream Soda from the small fridge in the game room.

A few moments later they found Gil making three sandwiches and Catherine laughing. "I mean Warrick was so damn nervous and -" Her eyes caught sight of the trio making their way into the kitchen, she smiled, "Hey Kaylenn, who are your friends?"

"Zoë, Lady Heather's daughter and her foster son, Declan, this is Catherine Willows." She answered as she reached around Gil to grab a piece of cheese of his sandwich. She grinned as he glared at her then proceeded to grab a two cokes and a Dr. Pepper.

"Hey, Ms. Willows." Declan shook her offered hand. "I'm a fan." And with that he walked toward the door, grabbing his coat he left.

"Excuse him, he does that a lot." Zoë smiled at Catherine and said, "My mom told me a lot about you."

Catherine grinned, "Oh, she did, did she?"

"Yeah," then her attention turned to Gil, "thanks Mr. G. and Kay, I'll be outside."

""Hey Gil, that reminds me, we're going to the skate park outside of the city."

"Who's driving and who's going?"

"Zoë, and Alex, whose skating, and Phoebe will be there."

He nodded, "Call me."

"I will," she kissed his cheek and then hugged Catherine. "Have a good night at work." Both CSI's snorted and she smiled, "Ok, at least try to."

She grabbed her stuff and, still juggling the cans of soda, left.

Catherine was trying desperately to stop smiling, "Mr. G.?"

------------------------

"Warrick, Nick, hold up!" The duo turned to see Bobby D., head of Ballistics, running up to them. "Do you know where Grissom is?"

"He and Cath just got called out to a scene." Warrick told him.

Bobby snapped his gum and said, "Hodges and I found something."

"Whoa, Hodges found something and he isn't tellin' us himself."

"Ecklie's been hounding him, so he told me to do it," he said to Nick, then pointed towards Ballistics, "come on and look."

When they reached Ballistics, Bobby pointed to a screen where a bullet was being displayed. "Ok, this is the round recovered from head of Rose Andrews. Now you see this," he pointed to a smudge, "it's a partial in motor oil."

"Evidently, our guys works with cars or changed his oil before the shooting," Warrick said, then asked, "anything else?"

Bobby smiled. "Your guy works with cars,"

Nick perked up at that, "What'd you find?"

"After I found the smudge, I took a look at the other bullet and found the same smudge, motor oil. Then Hodges looked over some of the stuff from the first murders and found the oil on the robe and the girl's jeans."

Both Warrick and Nick stared Bobby and then both stepped forward and hugged the gum chewing man. "Thanks!" Warrick said quickly when they released and started out.

Though Bobby's voice rang out and they turned to look at him. "Don't forget this guys." He handed them the paper with the test results and they ran to find Sara.

----------------------

Catherine reached down and picked up Kaylenn's CD case. "Why does she keep her CD's here?"

"They're copies for when I let her listen to her kind of music."

The blond shook her head, "Can I play one?" At his nod, she picked one that was named _Me, Myself, and Ricker Senior _and slid it into the CD player. She smiled as tatseful pop filled the car.

"I like this one." He grinned at her look. "It's not bad and not just noise."

Catherine let out a laugh and asked, "Her birthday is coming up right?"

"Yes."

"What are you guys doing?"

He faced her as he stopped at a red light. "Not much: movies, ice-cream, and a sleepover. You want to come over and help out?"

"Aren't I working?"

"I think I can work something out if you'll come."

She smiled, "Alright, Lindsey loves Kaylenn and would love to see her. Then she can go sleep over at Nancy's."

"Mmm, yeah we'll have lunch and then get everything ready."

"It's a date then."

* * *

_/I want you here with me/  
/Everything yah say, everything yah do/  
/Makes me go crazy baby I want you/  
/You have turned me on and that's the way it is/  
/Nothing could be better than this/_

_

* * *

_ A/N: So, how was it? I know Lady Heather wasn't in it all that much but she'll be back in time. 


	16. Sleeping Pills

A/N: Ok, I'm almost 2 months late, but school and life got in the way again. Thanks to all who are staying and reviewing. My love goes out to you! And to Nick, my beta and best friend! I know this is a sort of short chappie, but I promise to make the next one longer. Enjoy!

--------------

Brass walked over to the couple, who were getting their equipment, "Cath, Gil."

"So, what's on the menu tonight?"

They followed the detective into the restaurant's back door. "Malyssa Bricks, 16, her mother found her."

Catherine breathed, "Jesus.'

The group walked into the Woman's Bathroom to find a girl with long black hair framing her face. "Overdoes?" Gil crouched by the girl who could have been beautiful while she had been alive, yet the vomit that was on her face clouded that vision.

"Yeah, Aspirin."

Catherine made a sad sort of noise as she pulled out the girl's wallet from her purse, along with a bottle of medication. "She was very beautiful for only, again, 16." Sky blue eyes looked over the young girl's I.D. "Oh man," she peered at the label on the bottle, "filled today with only three left, that's strange usually they take'em all." She gestured a little bit, "Less of a chance."

Gil cocked his head and pulled up the sleeve on the girl's arm. "There are bruises from somebody holding this girl. You can see where his nail bit into the skin." He looked at the other arm and found similar bruising. "This girl put up a fight against someone."

"Good girl."

Brass nodded and turned to take something from the cop behind him. "Oh boy, you guys are gonna love this." He held up a crumpled piece of paper with the writing, _Out of Order. _"That explains how she had enough time to OD."

"Why didn't the mother come in after her?" Catherine took a picture of the bottle and leaned against the sink, "If my daughter was in the bathroom longer than five minutes, I would be in that bathroom so quick, it wouldn't even be funny."

"Yeah well, not if you were late by a little over 45 minutes, which the mother was. They were meeting were dinner at 9:15, didn't show till sometime after ten." He looked at his notes. "She asked the waiter where her daughter was and he told her that she had gone to the restroom sometime before that and hadn't seen her since. The mother waited," he threw a look at Catherine, "five minutes, then came in." He held up the sign. "This wasn't on the door."

"Mother . . ." Both Catherine and Brass glanced at Gil who pulled a folded piece of paper out of the girl's breast pocket. He unfolded it carefully, but everyone knew what it contained. A capital 'C' was written on it and on the back was a poem.

"Something fell out of it Grissom."

At Catherine's statement, the CSI looked down and saw two squares with the letters 'y' and 'G' written on them. "Is he trying to communicate with us?" Catherine wondered out loud.

Gil turned his eyes to lifeless teen. "I think I'm getting it loud and clear."

-----------------

A mug went crashing out into the hallway, causing people to jump and turn to their supervisor's office, where the cup was issued from.

Catherine sighed, "I'll talk to him."

All the CSI's nodded and agreed that she should.

Nick looked at the four people who were with him, "Have you noticed them spending more time with each other?"

"Yeah, how could we not?" Piped up Greg who was waiting for a result to print up. "I mean it's kinda hard especially when Kaylenn's been telling you that Catherine has been over at Gris' house like every other day since she came here."

The group fell silent then one word was issued. "Oops . . ."

-----------------

Catherine entered the dark office. Her eyes adjusted to what light was thrown from the terrariums and saw that he was sitting with his head in his hands on the couch. "I'm still trying to figure out this stain."

She gasped, he had startled her; she had not known that he had known she was in the room with him. "You might want to go home Gil."

"I can't," he rose quickly and crossed to his desk where she saw him stare blankly at the papers that strewn over the surface. "This case is driving me crazy, I think." He rubbed his eyes then ran a hand through his hair, wincing as his fingers caught in the curls. "I'm sleeping for once, but I'm always tired. I can't concentrate. I can't even think."

"Take some vacation time, take Kaylenn somewhere, go visit your mom."

He raised an eyebrow, "No, not until we solve this."

The room fell silent. Catherine studied the fish board, _'the ones that got away'_, she sighed, he never let go. Catherine turned to her supervisor and saw that his eyes were staring intently at something on his desk.

"Two."

"What?"

He looked at her and smiled, quite maniacal. "He's always killed two."

Suddenly it dawned on her. "You're right. All the times that he has killed, it's been in pairs. Why didn't he do it this time?" Her eyebrows rose, "Unless we haven't found her yet."

"Well, if we haven't found anybody yet," he looked at his watch and sighed. "Shift's almost over, we need to have a meeting . . . Again."

Catherine decided it was better not to mention his sudden change in topic. "You okay now? Not gonna throw any more cups around?"

Gil shot her a look that plainly said 'mind your own damn business, Cath'. She laughed and started toward the lounge with him following her.

------------

"Alright, Hodges and Bobby D. found motor oil on all of the bullets."

Sara picked up Nick's thought, "And since there have been different bullets used at every crime, I think it's safe to say that they guy works with cars."

Gil nodded slowly, then turned his attention to Warrick. "The robe from the first case also had the same traces of oil, except, there was also grease," he leaned backed, "so theory adds up."

"Good," Gil looked over at Greg, "Greg, what about tonight's case."

"Um, the meds checked out, they're aspirin." He eyes shifted down to his notes. "Though the girl had blood alcohol of about .03, so that probably helped the OD."

"She's 16."

Greg shrugged, "She could've scored from anybody before she came to dinner."

"Okay, in the morning, Nick," Gil pointed to younger man, "you and Warrick see if any of her friends know where Malyssa 'scores'. Cath?"

"The lyrics are to a song called 'Pretty Penny'," she pointed to Sara, "by Stone Temple Pilots, which she helped me on."

Gil nodded slowly, "I'm familiar with them." Sara arched an eyebrow in his direction, he quickly added, "Kaylenn loves them." Everybody traded smirks.

"Anyways, Robbins found that Malyssa was almost two months pregnant, which corresponds to the first verse." Catherine lifted the paper with the lyrics on it, "'_Have you seen your mother girl? / Has she gone away? / Gone away and found the pearl / But the price she paid / Gone / When you wake in the morning / Gone / When you find that there's no one sleeping / Gone / Pretty penny was her name / She was loved and we all will miss her._'"

"Nick, Warrick, also ask her friends if she or they knew she was pregnant and if so, why she was drinking." They nodded toward Grissom. "Anything in the song that could point to another victim?"

"Well, the last verse." The team turned toward Sara. She reached over and Catherine handed her the paper, "_Have you lost your sister girl? / She's all but blown away / Blown away and lost the pearl / And the price she paid_."

"Sounds like a shooting," Nick commented.

Suddenly, all of their pagers went off. Curses filled the air when they read the screens. "Alright, Warrick and Sara you're catching this one, get out there now. Everybody else, we got other cases to work on."

-------------

_So the answer gets harder, harder  
And the truth's getting farther and farther  
And the bottle keeps churnin' and churnin'  
Seven caged tigers fly_

'Seven Caged Tigers' by Stone Temple Pilots

-------------

A/N: Next shap will be up before X-mas,I do know that. I hope you guys enjoyed.


	17. Penny's Sister's Interview & Surprise

A/N: So yeah, I'm not dead and still writing. Here is the next installment and the next 2 chaps are gonna be pretty long. Thanks to all my fans for sticking with me. On with the story!

* * *

"Oh, Christ," both Warrick and Sara breathed upon the entrance to one of the many Storage units. The girl's face was towards them, or, actually what was left of it, having been blown off by the sawed-off shot-gun lying in her hand.

"Doesn't particularly look like a suicide, does it?"

Warrick looked over at his companion and nodded, "Not really but then again shot-guns do a great deal of damage . . ." he frowned. "He wasn't kidding when the line said, '_She's all but blown away'_."

"No, unfortunately, he wasn't."

Detective O'Reilly came up to them and winced, "Martina Long, age 16, obviously a good friend of the other victim considering the 4 text messages on Miss Long's phone, found in her purse, from her."

"What'd they say?" Sara moved her eyes from purse, which was left untouched except for the phone that was in O'Rielly's hand.

"Hold a sec." He pressed a few buttons then, "Tina, great party . . . Thanks for the booze . . . Mom's late, call me . . . Bored, please call."

------

Nick looked up to see Greg knocking on his Tahoe's window, he then proceeded to open the door. "Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

Greg raised an eyebrow, "War didn't call you?" At Nick's shake of the head, he said, "He called Gris to see if I could take his place while you did the interview with the friend, Grissom said that he would call you."

"Evidently, he forgot about it."

Greg shrugged, "Guess so, anyways I was bored and someone seems to have stolen my stash of magazines."

Nick hid his smile as he turned the ignition; he knew who had stolen Greg's stash. He had seen Kaylenn the week before with one of his magazines; she had told him to keep it a secret.

The ride to the house was uneventful and Greg was more than happy to finally open the door and get out. He took some calming breaths as Nick hopped out of the Tahoe, "You ready Greggo?" At Greg's nod, they headed up the drive.

------

Singing along with the song, she caught the ball. Up, down. Throw, catch.

She sighed and looked to the clock, throwing the ball and mitt into her back-pack as she walked over to the teacher. "Mr. Shedd?"

"Hmm?" he did not look up.

"Can I go to the restroom?"

"I don't know, can you?" he still did not look up.

"_May _I go to the little girl's room?" He raised his eyes, which were sparkling with laughter. A grin spread over her face as she grabbed the pass and practically skipped out of the cafeteria.

Kaylenn walked through the doors to restroom and spotted Phoebe standing in the corner. "Hey girl, Alex here?" Her eyes swiveled to the closed stall next to the blond.

With a snort, Phoebe said, "Yeah, like I would have sex in a school bathroom, least of all these. You wanna do crap like that, you go to the M-Building." She smiled at Kaylenn.

"You're a slut!" Kaylenn said in a sing-song voice as she closed the stall door behind her.

"Damn straight." Phoebe studied her nails and asked, as she heard the toilet flush, "Speaking of being a slut how is the very sexy Mr. Shedd?"

Emerging from the stall, the redhead blushed to the color of her hair. "He is cute and trust me, without him I would never have even survived my dose of study-hell."

"Well, he is the hottest teach in the school."

Kaylenn nodded as she nervously washed her hands. "So, you are going to his haunted house on Halloween?"

"Hell yes, we've been doing it since we were fish, it's hella-badass." Phoebe winked. "He always wears the most awesome, and sexy, costumes."

"You're so bad, Pheebs!"

"Yes, but you were thinking it too."

Kaylenn shook her head, "Ok, see-ya after school!"

The blond waved her hand, "We still on for Alex's tournament, right?"

"As always!"

------

"Holly, do you know where Malyssa and Martina were last night before 9 o'clock?"

The tear-stained face of Holly Camp met Nick's eye, "We had gone to a party with a couple of friends, Eric, Leslie and Danny."

"Their last names?"

"Bryer, Marxz, and Bayfield."

"Anything happen at the party?"

"No, nothing that didn't usually happen at the parties we went to."

"Drinking, any drugs?"

Holly's eyes darted toward the walkway to that led to the kitchen where her parents were, seeing this, Greg jumped up and walked into the kitchen. The teen visibly relaxed as sounds of a conversation filtered into the room and nodded. "What exactly?"

"Someone had brought some pot and some ecstasy, and I'm pretty sure some harder drugs, then just some beer."

Nick leaned forward, "Was Malyssa seeing anyone?"

"She messed around with a few boys, but no, she wasn't."

"Did you know she was pregnant?"

"What!" She bit her lip and choked back a sob, "Danny, she and he had slept together a few months back, but they ended it."

Holly's parents came into the room as the teen broke down, leaving Nick and Greg to watch them console their daughter. Eyeing the family, Nick said, "I'm so sorry for your loss, we'll be leaving now."

Once outside, Greg turned to Nick and asked, "Is it always like that?"

"Pretty much, c'mon, we gotta talk to that Danny boy."

------

Gil walked into the locker room just as Greg pulled on a t-shirt, "What happed at the interviews?"

"We talked to all of the friends that had gone to the party with Malyssa and Martina but they all had the same story: both left at 8:30 and nobody heard from them afterwards."

"Nick said something about the boyfriend."

"Oh yeah," Greg sat down on the bench and started to pull on his boots, "Danny Bayfield, standard jock, dated Malyssa a few months back. There wasn't any doubt, between all of the friends and him, who the father of her baby was." He stood up and went to stand beside Grissom, "But I sent his blood to DNA, I'll process it tonight."

Nodding the older man said, "Good, it can wait, go get some sleep."

Greg nodded as he walked out of the room, leaving Gil standing there.

-------

"So, what exactly is gonna happen this weekend?"

"You still want the sleep-over, right?" At her nod, he continued, "Okay, on Friday, I'm going to go to Warrick's party, then Saturday night, your party."

"So, you're ditching me for Warrick on my birthday?"

Gil cocked an eyebrow at Kaylenn, "We've already had this discussion."

"Yeah I know, but I like bugging you about it." The redhead smiled from the vantage point on the living-room floor.

Gil watched her as she juggled homework, a movie and her massive dogs, each somehow getting equal attention. She surprised him sometimes. "By the way, Kaylenn, as an appeasement for not being able to spend time with you on your actual birthday, I wanna give you something." He got up and walked towards the bathroom, "Follow me."

Curious, Kaylenn grabbed the remote and paused her movie, then said, "Oh damn, great pause!" Peeling her eyes from the tantalizing still frame, she pushed herself off the floor, careful not hurt her dogs. She followed her uncle into the bathroom, up the stairs and into the game room, where he was standing next to something covered by a cloth. "What is it?"

"I wanted to wait till your actual birthday but it came early and I can't exactly hide these." He lifted the cloth and revealed two moderately small boas.

Kaylenn stared at them and then practically threw herself into Gil's arms, "Holy crap, I love you! Oh my god, that is so the best thing ever!" Laughing, they pulled apart and she declared, "I'll name them Fred and George!" Her face went blank, "What are they?"

Smirking, he answered, "Girls."

"Winifred and Georgia."

He laughed and said, "You'll still get something later, but I figured this would do."

"Do? Are you kidding me, I died and went to heaven." She hugged again and said, "Great, now I gotta call everyone I've ever known to tell them. Leave it to you to give a gift that everybody needs to know about."

"Okay, I'm gonna get ready for work."

Kaylenn watched him disappear behind the banister, then glanced at the snakes as grabbed the portable phone and dialed. She had just collapsed onto the floor, where she had been earlier, when Zoë picked up the line. "Hey girl, I got something to tell you."

"What?"

Looking at the screen, which still had a scene from Die Hard III on it, Kaylenn sighed, "Damn, now I wish I had gotten the machine."

The girl snorted into the phone, "Why? What are you doing?"

"Oh, watching a movie, and I had to pause it on a delicious looking Jeremy Irons."

"Oh, really? Well, if you hurry and tell me what you called for, you can get back to him."

"Good point."

_----------------------------------------_

_Why does it feel like this world is just not for us,_

_Why does it feel like this world is they got for us,_

_Why does it feel like no one is watching us!_

'The Last Song' by Theory for a Deadman

----------------------------------

A/N: Let me know what you think and on to the next chapter!


	18. October 10, 11, & 12: 3 Crazy Nights I

A/N: This a new format that I'll be using on the next 2 chaps, sorry if it distracts. And by the way, I hadn't had this much fun writing a chap since chap 7, so enjoy!

* * *

**October 10, 2003**

**Grissom Residence**

**7:43 p.m.**

"Kaylenn, I'm going to the bar! I'll be back in a bit!" Gil checked himself in the mirror one more time, and was about to turn around but stopped when he saw Kaylenn's reflection.

"The bar?"

"Yeah, the one I took you to to get something from Sara and Nick."

"Oh yeah, is that where Warrick's party is?

"Yes, it is."

"Can you give him this?"

Gil turned to face her and looked at the small box, wrapped in green with a bow on top. "It's nothing big. But don't let'im open it till 9:30."

"Um, ok." He took the box and said, "Well, I'm off."

She watched him leave the bathroom, then started up the stairs but was stopped by the sound of his faint voice. "Be good and again, happy Birthday." He smiled, "And please do not burn the house down."

She laughed slightly. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad!"

Gil looked up from where he was putting on his watch to look at the charred space over the stove. "Kaylenn, it's the size as your beloved state." He grinned, "I'll see you later tonight, goodnight Kay!"

"Good night Gil!"

------

**Double Down Saloon**

**8:05 p.m.**

After going to Catherine's to pick her up, she and Gil pulled into the parking lot of the Double Down Saloon. "You know for as long we've known Warrick, I would never have guessed he came here, I'm still getting over the fact that he would actually want his party here."

Smiling, Gil got out and opened the back to get out the presents. "I wasn't that surprised, actually."

The door on the other end opened, startling Grissom, "Well, that figures!" They closed the back doors and met in front of the Tahoe, where Catherine took her present from his arms. "What's that?" She was pointing to the small lump in his breast pocket.

"Oh, I forgot about that," he fished a small box wrapped in green out of it. "Kaylenn wanted me to give this to Warrick."

"Kaylenn?" She snorted, "I thought they were enemies?"

"I thought so too. But, I'm gu-"

"Hey guys! Over here, we got a table saved!"

Looking towards the entrance of the bar, both saw Sara waving toward them. Glancing at Catherine, he shrugged and put the box back in his packet.

-------

**Dessert Breeze Park**

**8:17 p.m.**

"Hey Kay, you made it!" Laughing, Kaylenn was bowled over by Alex, who hugged her so hard her back popped. "Oops, sorry, I'm excited."

"I can tell," she rolled her shoulders, "though having you as a friend means I never have to visit a chiropractor."

He smiled as the rest of the gang came over, when they had reached the two of them, they screamed, "Happy birthday!" Alex almost felt sorry for the red-head as she was engulfed in yet another hug from her friends.

Finally, Kaylenn emerged from the group and said, "Thanks guys, so when do you go on, Alex?"

Phoebe let the now green haired boy pull her towards him. "He goes on in a few minutes, the competition ends in around 40 minutes."

"Then we go to Silverado for the show."

Kaylenn's eyes snapped towards Declan, "What show?"

Zoë stepped in front of her brother and said, "Our band's opening for This Calendar Year and Forget McCarran; they're pretty badass."

"I still can't figure out why we would open for either of them, we're harder than them."

"It's a gig, Alex." Declan looked at Kaylenn, "Come on, you'll like it."

"Ok, I've been wanting to see you guys play anyways."

A guy carrying a skateboard walked by and waved over to them. "Alex! You got 5 minutes!"

"Thanks Doug!" He turned toward his friends and kissed Phoebe, "See you guys in a few minutes."

"So, where do you wanna sit?"

------

**Double Down Saloon**

**8:45 p.m.**

"I do not know what she is talking about, I swear to God!"

"You are such a liar, Greg! Kaylenn was even there."

"And you're just gonna take her word over mine!"

Sara and Nick looked at each other. "Uh, yeah."

The table exploded into laughter as Greg yelled, "You guys are asses."

Trying to calm himself, Grissom commented, "Why wouldn't we believe Sara, since it's not that hard to imagine?"

Finally able to breathe, Catherine got out, "Really it is easy to picture your face smashed against a glass door!" The last part was barely heard as the table again melted into a fit of giggles.

"Again, you guys are a bunch of asses." Greg was pointing to them.

After a while, the CSI's had settled down and were talking about anything other than work, when the music changed to a slow rock ballad. Nick eyed Sara, then leaned over to her and whispered something in her ear; she nodded and took his hand. They scooted out of the booth and made their way to the dance floor where other couples were dancing.

Greg voiced the table's thoughts, "So, when do you think they're gonna actually come out as a couple?"

"When the world revolves the other way?" They jumped as Jim Brass' voice rang out.

"Brass, you made it!"

Pulling up another chair, the man sat next to Greg, "Sorry 'bout that Warrick, I got a call."

They tensed up and Gil asked, "Anything big?"

"Nope, just your run-of-the-mill, stupid robber," he smiled at their visible relaxation. "Who's on call besides me?"

"Sara and Gris," Greg held up his bottle of beer, "and yeah for that."

Catherine shook her head, and asked, "Who's the lucky guy who wants to dance with me?"

"Well, I wo-" Greg jumped out of his chair dragged her out of the booth, effectively cutting off Warrick's reply. "Damn Greg, don't kill her!"

-------

**Dessert Breeze Park**

**8:57 p.m.**

Seeing Alex exiting the gate, Phoebe shrieked and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around him, "I can't believe you got 4th!" She kissed him as he carried her over to his van where Declan, Zoë, and Kaylenn stood.

"Yeah, Alex, that was pretty cool, but now we're running late. We gotta get there in 20 minutes to play 3 songs, so come on." Alex just shook his head at Declan as everyone hugged him and congratulated him.

"You're such a worry-wart."

After piling into the van, Alex started it up and started toward Silverado Ranch Park. Watching the nightlife of Vegas pass her by, Kaylenn leaned her head on the glass, tuning out the loud rock and laughing voices in the front until Declan whispered in her ear, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She turned back to the window, and then look right back at him, "How do you live here?"

Taken a back, he responded, "What?"

"This city, how do you stand the fact that it never sleeps?"

"Oh, that. I dunno. How am I suppose to feel about?"

She searched his eyes for any ridicule, finding none, she said, "I feel trapped. There's nowhere quiet unless you go to the dessert."

He smiled gently and pulled her against his chest. "I don't exactly agree with you, but I can see it from your point of view." After a moment of silence between the two, he noticed she was again staring at the neon lights, "You miss Texas."

"Yeah, I do." She continued to stare.

--------

**Double Down Saloon**

**9:23 p.m.**

Warrick shook his head as he pulled out the gift from Greg, "You disappoint me Greggo, it's just a t-shi-" reading what it had printed on it, he glared a the lab rat, "You would."

Everyone laughed as Warrick turned the shirt toward them, written on it was the phrase "Upon the Advice of My Attorney, My Shirt Bears No Message at This Time".

"Sorry Warrick, it was either this or one that I thought was a bit racy. I thought you'd appreciate this one."

"Well, thank you for that and thanks to you guys for getting my presents."

Everyone just shrugged and said various forms of welcomes, until Gil looked at his watch and said, "I guess I can give this to you now." He pulled out the green box and leaned across the table to set it before the man. "It's from Kaylenn; she said not to have you open it till 9:30."

The CSI's looked at the present with skeptical eyes and Brass said suspiciously, "Kaylenn, eh?"

"I'd watch out Warrick, you did give her a dropped soda the other day." Nick pointed at the box, "She's a smart girl; she could've fit a lot of things in that box."

Shaking his head at their reactions he carefully tore the green wrapping from it and as he took the top off, all of the people at the table leaned in to see. They all dropped back in their seats.

"It's a piece of paper. How anti-climatic," Catherine huffed.

Gil grinned at her reaction and how cute she looked slumped against him with her arms crossed. She was starting to show the effect of the 4 beers she had drunk so far. His attention, though, was pulled to Warrick's reaction to the paper. The darker man's green eyes were fixated on the note, and then slowly moved to the door of the bar, his mouth crept into a smile. "Excuse me."

They all gave him confused looks until he walked over to meet a very pretty black woman, who proceeded to follow him back to the table. When they returned Warrick noted his friends looked like they were fish caught out of water. "Guys, this is Lily Ace, she's a teacher at Kaylenn's school."

----------

**Lady Heather's Palace**

**Residence**

**11:13 p.m.**

Kaylenn and Declan laid in the bed of Zoë's truck underneath a blanket, while Zoë, Phoebe and Alex sat in the yard talking and playing with the dogs. Snuggling into his warmth, Kaylenn noticed that Declan tensed. "What is it?" Her head rose from his chest to look into his stormy-blue eyes.

"I don't wanna lead you on."

Kaylenn turned away from him and said, "Oh, so you don't like me."

He scooted forward and touched her chin, making her look at him. "Actually, I do like you but that's not the point."

Her eyebrow rose and she asked, "Then what is, Declan?"

"I'm gay."

Kaylenn blinked. "You're what?"

Misinterpreting her reaction, Declan started to pull himself to the tail gate but was stopped by the hand on his arm, "No, D, don't go! I didn't mean it like that, you just threw me."

He eyes stared into hers; he leaned against the tire-hump and asked, "So you don't hate me?"

She burst into nervous laughter, "Hate you? Never, Declan. Actually, if you wanna know the truth, I'm kinda relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yeah, I didn't wanna go to the next level with you 'cause I love our quasi-couple relationship. I feel comfortable cuddling and talking to you 'bout sex and guys." She cocked her head to the side. "I guess I now know why."

He blushed and looked down, "I figured after the park, that you wanted to be with me, and I've only really come out to myself and Zoë."

"The park was interesting but I don't blame you, it was moment." Kaylenn leaned over his legs and hugged him. "Plus, I like another guy, so this works beautifully."

Declan snorted into her neck, "Me too."

Astonished, she pulled away, "His name his Leo, he works with Zoë."

A smile spread over her lips, "You are a slut."

He laughed, "When I told her, she asked if I minded meeting a friend of hers who was also gay, you know, to just talk." The boy just shrugged, "I think she counted on him asking me out."

"I'm happy for you Declan."

"Speaking of which, I want you to meet him, I was even wondering if I could bring him to the party."

"Most definitely."

Rearranging themselves into a more comfortable position, they continued stargazing. This time, relaxed. "Happy birthday Kaylenn."

----------

**October 11, 2003**

**Willows Residence**

**12:01 a.m.**

Giggles escaped their throats as Gil made his way to the front door as a very inebriated Catherine Willows clung to his side. The stairs proved to be an obstacle when she tripped and they both ended up laughing so hard that they almost had to sit down. Once the 'evil stairs', as Catherine had called them, had been conquered, Gil fished around in his pants for his keys.

Still holding her, he found the key to her lock and unlocked the door, causing them to spill into the living rooming. Laughing, she whispered, "Shhh, Lindsey!"

Nodding, he pulled her up and made their way to her bedroom, which when he got to, he settled her on the bed and started on unclasping her high-heeled shoes. Catherine stared at the ceiling and smiled. His hands on her feet and calves were driving her insane; she slipped her eyes closed.

"Catherine, open your eyes." She complied but looked at him through heavy lids. "I'll be right back."

She watched him disappear into her bathroom and after a few moments of the sound of running water, Gil remerged holding a glass of water. Handing it to her, she took some sips and was about to put it away when he barked, "All of it." She glared at him over the rim as she finished it.

Taking it from her and setting it on her bedside table, he sat on the bed and brushed her hair back. "Next time, you might want to listen to me before drinking that much."

"Not like you've nev'got drun' before."

Gil smiled as he started on sliding his coat off her shoulders, but stopped suddenly when he felt Catherine's hand sliding up his thigh. "Catherine, I think we better-", her lips were suddenly on his, her tongue asking for permission, which he allowed. They soon lost themselves in the heat of it but when she suddenly grasped him through his pants, he stood hastily.

She looked at him with confused eyes, "What?"

"Not like this." His expression was a pained one as he said goodnight and left the room.

-----------------------------------

_Be my friend  
Hold me, wrap me up  
Unfold me  
I am small  
I'm needy  
Warm me up  
And breathe me_

"Breathe Me" by Sia

-----------------------------------

A/N: Hoped you enjoyed these and please review. Thanks!


End file.
